As you all know, I am running my first half marathon, the NYC Half Marathon, on my birthday — March 21. I am so excited and happy to announce that my long runs have been going so well! No knee pain, no foot tendinitis pain. After (a surprisingly easy) 10 on the treadmill last weekend, I did get a case of the black toenails. It hurt. Turns out Jack Rabbit in NYC fitted me incorrectly and my shoes were too small, so I brought the shoes in and they gave me the larger size. Then I went to the podiatrist (why do I have 2 podistrists that I love and 0 gastroenterologists??) and he drained my toenails. He also confirmed that I am now, in fact, a true hardcore runner. Welcome to the club, Dori!

I was concerned about my upcoming 11 miler but my toes felt much better the day before. And yesterday I ran 11 miles outside in the gorgeous weather and my toes did not hurt! I felt great.

I am so excited for the NYC Half! I know it will be amazing. I am especially excited to run down 7th avenue through Times Square amongst cheering spectators! I think I should make a shirt that says it’s my birthday? Tacky? Thoughts?

My friend Melissa wrote a post the other day where she mentioned a half marathon taking place in Queens on April 3, two weeks after the NYC Half. I was intrigued. The race takes place in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in my hometown! Just a 5 minute drive from my mom’s house. And the race sounds fun — it is the inaugural 13.1 Marathon — New York. This race is part of the 13.1 Marathon series, which is popping up all over the country. The tagline is “Where the party meets the pavement” and I found out they have live bands throughout the race and a fun after party that might or might not include beer.

I registered.

Am I crazy??! Maybe. But here’s what I’m thinking: I can run another half marathon and won’t have to train!! I will ALREADY be trained. Really, what’s the difference between running 12 miles next week and 13.1 the week after? And then 13.1 again two weeks after? Not such a huge deal. And it will be FUN. And in my hood. My mom can come (read: drive me) and cheer me on. My friends can come. The course is AWESOME. And running two half marathons is kind of like running one full one, just with a 2 week walking break. No?  :)

The race begins at Arthur Asche stadium, where I was fortunate to watch Roger Federer (swoon) play in the US Open this past summer. The race ends here:

[Source]

And there you have it. If you think I am crazy or if you just want to praise me, feel free to comment or email and let me know. I am open to all opinions. Not that it matters, because it’s ON!

Anyone else want to run it too?

If I can run 11, I can run 13.1. Twice.  Let half marathon season begin!

I have been awful at keeping up lately! I want to blog, I even have lots to say, I just don’t seem to have the time. And when I do, I just want to veg out in front of the TV. I think I am very stressed out because I haven’t been able to sleep the last few nights. My jaw gets so clenched and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to unclench it so I can get some rest. And it hurts so much. Really bad pain. Not sure if this is related, but when I open my mouth wide to yawn my jaw pops out. When I close it, it pops back in. Freaky.

When I told the dentist, he told me I need an $800 night brace. I don’t have $800 and I’m not really sure how much I need it since he barely even looked at me before telling me this. I plan to find out if my insurance will pay for any of it, and I have a doctor’s appointment at an internist this week so I will ask for her thoughts as well.

Oh yeah and I am seeing the surgeon again next week.

Enough negativity, let’s talk about good things. Well, let’s quickly mention good things, because this is another one of those “I have no time to post but here is what I’d like to post about when I do have time to post” posts.

Things I plan to blog about:

• Seattle (over a month ago already, ugh)
• My Turkey Day workout FAIL and the rest of my workouts that week
• Cool machine they have at my new gym!
• December is my own Back on Track month
• My 10K that is happening THIS SUNDAY
• Other race news!

And more. But I don’t have time to tell you anything tonight because I am going to dinner with one of my favorite bloggers! Hers was one of the first blogs I ever read and I am so excited to meet her at one of my favorite restaurants. Any guesses who I might be meeting??

Tomorrow night I have writing class until late (only 3 left — even though I am learning a lot, I am kinda ready for it to be over. I want my Wednesday nights back!) so I hope to get back to you all on Thursday! I also have to do my writing homework that is due TOMORROW (I had 2 weeks, I am such a procrastinator) and a longer writing assignment due next week. And I have to make my 10K playlist!

I have a little giveaway coming up soon as well.

And I want to win these socks. Giveaway.

Thank you all for bearing with me during my erratic posting schedule. You are all wonderful and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support I get in the blog world!

Now I leave you with something adorable. My brother and Mallory’s pup Santana was boarded at the PetSmart hotel when they were away for a few days. She got a glowing REPORT CARD. How sweet and adorable! Such a good girl, that pup! Everyone loves her.

Santana will be enjoying another luxurious stay at the PetSmart hotel in a few weeks. I heard they serve ice cream!

Remember that type of puzzle on Wheel of Fortune??

So on Saturday, Missy announced some exciting news on her blog: Shape magazine contacted her to do a little feature about her weight loss a few years ago! They wanted to do a photo shoot of Missy doing an exercise she regularly does, and after the Core Fusion location didn’t work out, they decided to take pictures in a spin studio instead. The magazine told her to bring some friends along to pose as spin classmates. Missy asked me, her sister and our friend Melanie — and of course I said yes!

Early Saturday morning, I woke up and got dressed in an unusual pairing: workout clothes and full face of makeup. I walked over to the gym, which was conveniently at a New York Sports Club just a few blocks from the boy’s. I even stopped at Juice Generation along the way for a fresh pressed green juice. I arrived at the gym before the other girls, so it was just the NYSC employee, the camera men and me! It felt strange to be alone in a large gym. It also felt strange to see myself looking so even skinned and lip glossed in gym mirrors!

Shortly after Melanie arrived, and then Missy and her sister. We went into the spin room and the photographers arranged our bikes  and we got started. They instructed us to smile and snapped one picture after another. I wasn’t sure when was an appropriate time to blink, or to rest my smile for a second. I ended up not doing much of either.

But I loved it. I have to say, I could spend all day every day just smiling for cameras. I love pictures of myself! Not that I love how I look in pictures, but I just love smiling for them and being in them!

The people at this gym are kinda nuts. A spin class was starting at 9:30, so we had instructions to be out before then. At 8:45, an angry mob loomed outside the spin studio demanding entrance. Who goes to class 45 minutes before it starts?! These people were NOT happy. I also must mention that I tried to sign up for this spin class and found out that it booked up 2 days before. These people sure do love their spin. And they weren’t about to let a silly national magazine photo shoot get in the way of it!

One of these psychos was carrying a backpack from my own company’s fitness center. I didn’t say anything to him about it, but it does appear he belongs to 2 gyms. Or maybe he no longer works at my company; few do any more.

One woman in particular went especially crazy. She camped herself in front of the door and wouldn’t move, angrily mumbling to herself the entire time. She seemed to be, along with the company backpack man, the leaders of the mob.

Eventually, the mob forced their way in to the photo shoot and started setting up camp on bikes, even taking it upon themselves to MOVE the bikes back to their original locations (they were all rearranged for the shoot). These people are nuts!

After the shoot, the photographer showed us the proofs on the computer and they look amazing! Missy especially looks beautiful. The magazine comes out in January and I can’t wait!

Since spin filled up and I didn’t have regular sneakers with me (silly me), I used a wrench I carry in my gym bag to tighten my spin shoes to instead remove the hooks from the shoes. Oh G-d I hope I can get them back on. In retrospect, I really should have taken a picture of how they looked before removing them. Once I removed the feet clips I was able to go use the elliptical.

I started to feel some serious gym envy. I used to belong to a gorgeous, 7 floor (+ rooftop deck), fancy and expensive gym. After I injured my knee, started going for weekly expensive stomach treatments, and officially stopped going to my own apartment for anything other than mail, I quit that gym and started running outside and using the boy’s building gym.

Now, running outside season is over. The building gym is so boring I cannot bring myself to get there. There are no TVs that you can actually listen to and they have the type of ellipticals that I hate — as in, the type that have NO incline option. I never get a good workout on them! There are some boring treadmills, although I need like a TV to run anything more than 3 miles on them — if I even get to the place to do that (oy I sound like a whiny brat.). There is one very old stairmaster and a couple of even older bikes. I am not complaining! Having a building gym is a luxury that I never knew before, and it was so cool for me at first. But the coolness wore off as I find myself opting to sit at home watching TV rather than go there. It is just too boring and un-fun to take.

So here I am at a gym with tons and ton of machines. Machines I never even heard of! There is one that is like an elliptical and a stepper combined — anyone know of that one? It looked so cool! There are regular treadmills and also unusual treadmills that I am not sure the purpose of  — but would love to find out. There are so many of the ellipticals I love and miss (WITH incline) and also a bunch of the ones I don’t like as much. There are stairmasters and even the kind with moving stairs. Those are hard and I never get to do it anymore. And the best part of it all? Every single machine had its own TV. Every. Single. Machine.

And there are classes. When I was in the spin room for the photo shoot, Missy’s awesome house music was playing and I felt like I was in a class — and I wanted, craved, to be in a spin class. I miss it. I will never go overboard with it again, maybe once or twice a week at most, but I do miss it. I loved it, it was a part of my life. And there are some other classes as well, although this definitely seems like more of a machine gym for me.

As I was happily trotting away on the elliptical, I got to thinking. My thoughts went something like this:

I am sweating so much after just 15 minutes on this elliptical. I never sweat on the apartment elliptical. I can set this to intervals! It does the hard work for me, I just have to follow along. I am getting such a great workout, I will never have another workout like this all winter long. And the treadmills! I can definitely run good distances with my own TV! And I want to do that stair machine, and that hybrid machine and those strange treadmills. I want the option of spin.

If I stick with the apartment gym, the way things have been going, I will rarely work out. Look at me now. I ran a couple times a week outside to prep for my race, but the race is tomorrow and then what? On my training plan’s “cross-training” days, I didn’t even cross train. I just sat on the couch! If I belonged here, I would go and actually get some good workouts in. My endurance is so low, my strength non existent, I think I could improve my mood and myself if I join this gym.

Uhhh yeah. As for distance, it is not super close to the boy’s but it is an easy walk when the weather is agreeable and an easy bus ride door to door when it is not. And there is a NYSC across the street from work, so that would double my chances of making it to the gym. I always wanted to be able to workout during lunch and it always bothered me that I wasn’t allowed to join my own company gym due to a stupid rule that is surely causing them to lose a lot of money these days.

So, armed with the information of what all my friends who belong there pay, I marched myself to the membership office prepared to join. I figured especially now, during this economy, gyms were not doing so well. I read an article about it in the paper not long ago. I figured there must be some really great rates to get members in.

Wrong!

The price they gave me for the Gold membership, which would get me full access to my home gym and off peak access to other NYSCs was a much higher price than all my friends pay for their better Passport membership, which gets them access to all NYSCs at all hours. I told them this but they didn’t seem to care. The price discrepancy was huge, with the smallest being a $20 a month difference and the largest much more than that. But that is not even the issue. The issue is that I just can’t afford it. I don’t have the money.

So I left.

But of course I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My mind was set. And I wondered why I can’t afford the price they gave me . . . and of course, it hit me quickly, since I’m not an idiot.

I can’t afford a gym membership because I pay, in addition to $500/month on health insurance, about $650/month on other medical treatments, appointments, prescriptions, etc to maintain my day to day life with as little pain as possible. $500 alone is devoted completely to a weekly treatment I receive. It is no wonder I can’t afford a gym membership.

So I started thinking. One less treatment a week could help me pay for the gym. But then what about my GI health? But then what about my health cardiovascularly? What about my strength? What about being able to get out of bed in the morning without crying in pain?

Therein lies the predicament.

I want so much to create a healthy balance in my life: food, fitness, overall health. This balance is not possible as my overall health takes up ALL my resources. I already can’t eat salad. Now I can’t go to the gym?

Of course, all these stresses reinforce the fact that I now want to have this surgery. I need my life back.

I’m sure some of you are thinking I could try and get a discount from my health insurance (requires a year commitment and only saves a couple dollars) or from my job (same exact deal as the insurance, right down to the discount company used). So those options are not possible.

Back to the issue at hand. I decided to try and cut back on one medical treatment a month so I could have some money for the gym. This was a very hard decision and I am not 100% sure if it is the right one, but the gym is not permanent. I could be done after just 2 months if I decide it isn’t worth it. But since it is now two days after the photo shoot and I am still obsessing over the idea of a gym membership, I think I need to try. This is how I am. I obsess until I do. But first, I get to sample! Missy is giving me a free 1 week guest pass to New York Sports Club, so I can try the gym out for a week and then decide for sure what I want to do.

Although you know as well as I do that my decision has already been made. I am joining a gym.

After my free trial week is up, of course.

Do you consider the gym/working out a priority? Do you think it is worth it to spend a little money for your health?

True story. But first, an admission: Although I technically live in Manhattan, the apartment is so far away from the thick of it all that the boy calls it a suburb of Manhattan. As a result, I have never in my nearly 4 months of running outside run on city streets. One of the benefits of being in the burbs is having an actual running trail right in front of the apartment. All I have to do is run down a ramp and I am there!

I skipped my planned 5 mile run on Sunday — my last 5 mile run before next Sunday’s 5 mile race — because I got my hair blown out on Saturday (redeeming my free visit from Blow — remember that story? Well let’s just say this visit did not go smoothly either. More on that in an upcoming post). As a result, I did not want to mess up my hair. I chose to forego my training plan run in favor of pretty hair.

I set my alarm to wake up in the icy cold Monday morning for a boring treadmill session, but when I woke up my stomach was not having it. So the run had to wait. Tuesday had a much better forecast, so I decided to get an outside run in Tuesday morning — perfect. On Monday night, my stomach once again rebelled. This time, in the form of a pregnant lady’s belly or perhaps a basketball. I happened to glance down and was shocked to see my stomach in front of my face. It was huge! Massive. I looked pregnant and my maternal instinct told me to lovingly rub this massive bump of a belly. So I did.

My love for my unborn air bubble quickly subsided when I started to freak out. I have seen my tummy in all states of bloat, but this seemed worse than it has ever been. Or, more likely, worse than it has been in a very long time. Not only did I look about 5 or 6 months preggo, but the skin was taut and my stomach felt very strange to the touch.

In my freak out state, I took a photo of the belly, shirt rolled up in pregnant lady fashion. I sent it to Cassie in a state of alarm. I sent it to my brother with the message “GET IN MY BELLY.” I started to get worked up not only because I was in extreme pain and felt so much discomfort, but because I am still a girl and I can’t help but associate big belly with fat. Obviously I did not go from skinny to fat in the course of a few hours. But tell that to the girl with the giant balloon belly. Balloon Belly! That’s what they’ll call me!

I also was alarmed about my health. Why was this happening now? What was going on? The boy, a doctor, performed the doctor tap tap test, and bestowed on me the clinical diagnosis of air. Cassie agreed. The boy was concerned that something else was going on as well, and we discussed which hospital’s emergency room we would grace with our presence should my condition become worse. Luckily for both of us (me because pain sucks and him because he is studying for a big test) no ER visit was necessary. We fell asleep and although I woke up throughout the night nauseous (the boy says the word should be nauseated. why?), I was able to get up at 6 am for my outdoor run.

Because it doesn’t get light until 7 am now, I was not comfortable running on the path by the water in the dark. I opted to run on city streets which I had never done before, being in the burbs and all. I was a little worried about the traffic lights but figured it would be a nice change of pace. And it really was. I loved this run!

I felt great the entire time, comfy in my new Zensah leg compression sleeves and new Zobha workout pants (purchased at an online sale to have another pair of workout pants that can double as work pants, stretching to fit around my tum). There was lots to look at and no route to follow, so I got to explore the city. I ran where I wanted, when I wanted. Sticking of course to major populated streets. Thanks to my Polar RS300X sd, I knew my distance the entire time. I really just went with it on this run. If I wanted to run on a certain street or look for a restaurant I’d been meaning to try, I did. If I wanted to circle around the same block twice, I did. I felt extra camaraderie with the runners I ran into because we were running on the street! Sure, anyone can run on a running path. But here we all were on the street! Instant bondage bonding. Eventually, I headed home to make my 7:00 am curfew, and arrived at the door after 40:35 minutes of running 3.61 miles.

And today I felt so much better about my pregnant bloat that I felt comfortable sending the picture to a bunch of friends. I am so proud of my little bundle of joy air. Okay, proud is not at all correct. Coming to terms with it is more like it. I have not been feeling well at all lately . . . and my days of fitting into my pants have returned. Just in time for pants season. Woo hoo. I will call the surgeon next week to check in.

So, back to the matter at hand — almond cookies. Kinda.

So what happened was Gena posted this Almond Milk recipe and obviously I had to make it, and have to going forward every week of my life. So I made the milk, purchased a nut milk bag, and wound up with lots of almond pulp in addition to my heavenly milk. By the way, never buying Blue Diamond again.

I didn’t want to just toss the almond pulp like I toss my juice pulp every day, and the boy happens to love all treats almond (as do I), so I decided to make some almond cookies! A recipe online here, a recipe online there, I didn’t fully read any but I got the gist of what to mix together to make cookies. The problem? I don’t own all purpose flour. But! My gluten free pancake mix is actually called pancake AND baking mix. And they provide a recipe for muffins right on the bag! I figured, if it can make muffins, it can make cookies! Right?

So I mixed up all my ingredients (including agave! no sugar!) into a yummy batter. Then I greased a baking pan and shaped the dough like cookies on the pan. See photo:

Put in the oven at 350. I don’t actually know what cooking temperature is good for what, but I vaguely recalled reading the number 350 in one of the recipes I fleetingly glanced at.

After a little while, I went in to check on the cookies. They looked big and puffy and in major need of a flipping. I flipped them all over, thinking they looked suspiciously more like pancakes than cookies. They cooked on the other side and when I deemed them finished — can you imagine the delicious almond smells making their way through the apartment? — I removed them from the oven. They were definitely ready. But they definitely were NOT cookies.

The almond cookies I baked turned out to be almond pancakes.

I accidentally made pancakes! I am thinking this flour does NOT work to make cookies.

I have to admit, they taste great. Like, really great. Like, I’m upset I already ate dinner because I would have loved to have an almond pancake dinner. After eating some large crumbs/chunks of pancake, I put the pancakes on a plate and covered it in tinfoil. The boy emerged from his chamber of study and tasted a pancake. He LOVED it. I am so happy because I think he is generally skeptical of agave. But he does love his almond flavored treats, and this certainly qualifies. And now he has breakfast for tomorrow! He even gets to pour maple syrup on it.

So even though I failed miserably at masking cookies, at least I have a recipe to use with my almond pulp until I figure the whole cookie thing out — almond pancakes! Only next time, I think I’ll use my griddle . . .

That’s just a word the boy invented. It can mean everything and nothing; anything and all things. Right now, it perfectly describes my mood. Bushplurpie.

I feel bad that I haven’t been at the blog since Tuesday, but then I remember that I wrote a lot more than usual (these days) last week and I feel a bit better. So I’ll give you some updates and maybe then you will understand why I am feeling so bushplurpied.

Yes, my stomach felt better while fasting for a week with Organic Avenue. No, the bliss did not last. Once I started eating food again, the pain and discomfort came back so quickly I had to wonder if it was ever gone. Of course, it was gone, but it is now back as if last week never happened. I also went to see the surgeon this week. After spending a long time discussing my situation and options with him and putting a lot of thought into my situation and what he told me, I am heavily leaning towards having surgery. In fact, once I said those words out loud I knew it is the right thing for me. I felt relief once I accepted something I was previously unwilling to accept, so sure was I that surgery was not something I was willing to do.

After all, what if the newest medicine comes out that is the answer to all my problems?

However, now I learned that such a medication is not even in the pipeline. In fact, the only approved medicine for my condition (which I have tried multiple times for months) was recently taken OFF the market — for not working and for causing terrible side effects. And while I have been trying more non-traditional techniques lately, nothing seems to be helping much; although some things do help me get through the week and make major improvements on my day to day life, they are too expensive and time consuming to keep up with for the rest of my life. It just isn’t possible — and I still don’t even feel so great anyway with them.

I didn’t make any definite decisions yet. A few things have to happen first:

• The surgeon has to receive and then review various x-ray films from 4 different hospitals/offices — once he does this, he will call me and tell me if he still thinks surgery is my best answer. I have a strong feeling he will.
• Visit two new gastroenterologists for 6th and 7th opinions — one is in NY and one is in Boston, which will require some travel. If they both agree . . .

Then and only then will I say for sure I am going to have surgery and start figuring out the best time for me to do this. I used to think the idea of this surgery was crazy, but after talking to the surgeon and thinking about what the rest of my life would be like if I didn’t — what a pregnancy in my future would be like — I just know this is something that might really help me. And right now, nothing else is.

And. The surgeon told me that after the surgery, once I recover . . . I will be able to eat ANYTHING I WANT. That’s right — anything. Even oatmeal (oh how I miss thee). Even salad. Even Ezekiel bread. Even Larabars.

All the foods I love and miss. I used to eat oatmeal every day and then when my illness started that was one of the first things that I realized had to go. And then I started reading blogs and seeing just how incredible oatmeal can be. And I have yet to try one of these amazing creations. I really, really want to. I want to be able to eat whatever looks good, whatever is healthy, without saying “I can’t eat this because of my stomach.” I miss brown rice and whole grains. I miss salads for lunch. I despise having to order sandwiches “without lettuce” or “without sprouts.”

And I touched upon pregnancy before. Without getting into too much detail, if I were to become pregnant (NOT happening yet, I promise!) it could cause a lot of problems for me the way my body is right now. After surgery, however, it shouldn’t cause any. The doctor thinks there is a 95% chance I will feel completely better after surgery. He also thinks it is my only chance at improving my quality of life. Of course, this still has to be confirmed once he reviews my x-rays.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. They are out there. I was considering not mentioning this until I decided for sure, but I like hearing your thoughts and I like putting this in writing so I can one day look back and have my entire thought process written out. I also hope to turn my medical experience into a longer writing piece at some point, and I really don’t see myself writing this all out just to save on my computer. If I take this time to write, I like it to have a purpose and be read.

Feel free to email me if you want to know more about my condition and the surgery.

Speaking of eating foods, even though my stomach has a tough time with any vegetables, even cooked, I have been eating cooked veggies more often. Even though I don’t feel so well after, vegetables are seriously the only food I crave these days. Especially now that I made the decision to be a vegetarian — a decision I smile every time I think about. I am just so happy I acknowledged something that had been bothering me and I feel such relief after announcing it on the blog. So I need to eat something, right? And that something has been veggies. Lots of veggies. With some pain on the side. Seriously, every time I eat a vegetable based meal, I feel extreme discomfort, fullness (for a small amount of food) and pain after. But come time for my next meal, vegetables are all I want to eat. And then I feel awful. And the seasons, they go round and round and the painted ponies go up and down. And so on.

I could eat vegetables without pain once I have surgery. I want that.

Just some quick photos of some veggieful meals:

Blended salad (NOT vomit):

That was raw, and very hard on my stomach. I was testing this out the day after the fast ended to see how I did. This contained red pepper, tomato, avocado and mixed organic baby greens. The next day I made a steamed version that included butternut squash and no tomato and was slightly easier to tolerate. Uncomfortable yet delicious.

My new favorite creation: Eggplant and cashews roasted in EV coconut oil (EVCO?):

And my favorite dessert ever, Gena’s banana soft serve. I have been making this almost every day. Perfect dessert. I plan to mke her almond milk soon and blend it in here as well. It tastes extra good with crumbled up things, such as the Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks the boy bought, or the crumbs at the bottom of his Cascadian Farms Oats and Honey Granola cereal. I also added some soaked cashews one night and it was amazing. But it is also perfect plain.

Punky Brewster enjoyed it too.

Before my writing class on Wednesday I stopped at Organic Avenue, my weekly pre-writing class dinner destination for the upcoming weeks. I love their food! Although by the time I get there, they don’t have much left. I was sad that there were no mint chip smoothies. The good news is that I can call ahead and tell them what to hold aside for me, which I will definitely do next time!

This week, I got a really great pesto “pasta” (spiralized vegetables), the most incredible chocolate mousse (this is the real stuff kids, no added sugars — and it tasted better than any I have had, with no chemically after taste. Everyone in my writing class was jealous) and a Green Mylk for the next day — I believe it was spinach, celery, cucumber (?), almond mylk and cinnamon. And it was pure heaven. Best green juice ever, obviously. I want that every week too. The problem with wanting all this great stuff every week is the cost. And it is not cheap. But, you get what you pay for and one time a week I pay for the good stuff. Wish I could have it more.

Since this is a bushplurpied mish mosh of a post, I want to also note that I ran 5 miles last Sunday in gorgeous but cool weather and I felt amazing! My knee did start hurting at the very end and the pain got bad, but I iced as soon as I got home and all was good. But I know now that I CAN run 5 miles! I am very excited for my 5 mile race on October 25. I have another 5 mile training run scheduled for Sunday but the forecast isn’t looking so good. The weather here has been so awful that I even used the treadmill already for  2 mile run. I wanted to cry from the boredom. And I might have to do 5 treadmiles on Sunday. Aaahh. Maybe my attitude about it will be better by then. And I just got my new Zensah compression leg sleeves today. I am excited to try them out and review them for you after reading such great things about them. Photo below from Zensah.com. Mine are beige.

In other eksusis news, I love having a rebounder! Thursday night is a big TV night as you probably know, and I watched the entire episode of Community and half of Parks & Recreation while rebounding! It was so easy and perfect; I felt so much better about watching TV than I would have if I was sprawled out on the couch. I did a bunch of moves I learned in all the rebounding classes I used to take plus some others that I made up. I also picked up my 2 lb weights and did some arm moves that wouldn’t bother my shoulder. I never do arms on my own, so the trampoline is a good way to get them in! I was thinking I’d have the boy take a picture of me on it so I can show you all. Mine looks like this, but I don’t keep the arm thing on it:

I do plan to start going to Core Fusion regularly after my 5 mile race is over. My schedule lately has been so packed that I usually don’t have time to go, and when I do have time I get worried about hurting my knee before the race. So I decided to just not worry about it and start to go more often after the race — especially since my running outdoors days are almost over and I will need to move my workouts indoors. Core Fusion is perfect for that — and I just so happen to have 25 classes I need to use up!

Camera help needed! I must have done something to my Canon settings. When I take photos of food on macro they come out great. But when I try to take a picture of anything else, especially people, it is ALWAYS blurry. That switch on top that moves it from 3 modes — video, and 2 others. I think the 2 others are wrong. Can anyone help?? What should it be defaulted on?

And these, my friends, are all the reasons I feel so much bushplurpie. Thanks for listening to me through this long winded post. Now enjoy Michael Pollan’s awesome compilation of food rules. Can this man do any wrong?

Edited to add: Also read this – The 18 Worst Packaged Food Lies