Less of Josephine.

On Sunday I ran 12.57 miles on the race course I’ll officially run (as a half marathon) on November 30th. It’s a beautiful course, really top-notch! It flows right along the river and is shaded by old oaks and palm trees and has gorgeous views of sailboats, bridges, and pelican-and-seagull-covered docks. It even has small rolling hills which are very unusual in this area. Oh, and the eye-candy that was out running the course in prep for the big race was phenomenal. I had a great time. My pace was great, I felt great, and I know I’m completely ready for the distance.

But what I’m REALLY excited about is my total and complete victory over the ultimate evil known as CHAFE! I ran 12.57 miles and I had nary a red mark on me! Now that is truly a victory worth celebrating. I FINALLY found the right boob-rig (as I call my regular bra + compression bra combo) and it does a great job of both supporting, wicking, and NOT rubbing. I win, I win!

Today I ran my usual 6 miler and though I felt ok during the run, by this afternoon it was clear that I am fighting a cold. Booooo. My boob-rig is apparently great at staving off chafe but not so good at fighting off germs. Perhaps I expect too much from it.

Today’s weight: 139
Mood: Sniffley
Misc: Why are public restrooms in parks so incredibly FILTHY?!?! How hard is it to put the toilet paper IN the toilet and FLUSH, people? And the full, dirty diaper left on the counter — UNFORGIVABLE.

Just because she’s so adorable, here is much better picture of my little vacation puppy/reading companion from the Maine visit. She definitely rates up there on the list of my most favoritest parts of the trip:

Well, my darling husband is out of town and my subconscious (id? ego? superego? whatever!) is not letting me sleep. Other than 15 minutes of frantic REM sleep last night, during which I dreamed that I lost an eye to a vicious Cockatoo that was permanently attached to my arm, I’ve had zero sleep in 2 days. Being de-eyed does NOT rate high on my list of the bestest stuff to dream about.

So I’d like to place a dream order for tonight, please, to be delivered around oh, say, 5:45 pm. I’d like  the 38-year-old version of Sean Connery and whatever-his-current-age-is version of Daniel Craig to be embroiled in a very naughty love triangle starring a 22-year-old-version of yours truly. Yes indeed I’ll be in complete hot accent and beautiful man overload, but it beats painfully losing an eye to an angry parrot.

Today’s Weight: 140.2
Mood: Mucho groggy
Misc.: I have an unreasonable hate for the lying chick in the Glade candle commercials. I’d very much enjoy giving her a giant wedgie. Is there something wrong with me?

I’m feeling blah about blogging but good about most other things (minus my continued lack of career direction, don’t get my started on that). I’ve made no real progress towards 130; I continue to hover in the 137 to 140 range. For Month 8 as a whole I actually recorded a gain (eek!) — and even though I came back down quickly, it means the month was pretty much a wash as far as getting closer to 130. Ooga booga.

I’m not terribly worried about sitting at this weight — though I am by nature a very goal-oriented person and feel a certain level of frustration at being stymied. But I’m just trying to cut myself a break and let my body settle a bit. Losing weight has to be as hard on the body as it is on the psyche, right? And since it is excruciating on the psyche, well, it figures my body might be a bit tired. A break seems like a good thing. And anyway I’m not sure what I should tweak to change things. I’ll figure it out eventually.

After some lovely cheering from my online friends I’ve decided to go ahead and run a Half Marathon race at the end of this month since my training distances have completely prepared me already. It’s kind of a goal for me right now to be in a constant state of readiness for this length race (13.1 miles) so that I can race one whenever I choose. I’m NOT ready to start training for a full distance marathon (26.2 miles), however. Some day, maybe, but not right now. I’d rather focus on getting faster and stronger at my current distances.

Today’s picture: Maine wasn’t all about hiking. I always had a reading companion during the downtime.

Today’s Weight: 139.8
Mood: Variable from the NNW
Misc.: Die USA Network, die!

Happy Halloween from your favorite Florida tourists. Have a Boo-licious day!

Weight: 139.2 (Whew, I dropped the vacation and flying water weight — I was freaking out there for a bit!)
Mood: Spooky!
Misc: Nobody looks attractive chewing gum. It’s a fact.

No, I didn’t shoot anything (or anyone). No, my husband didn’t kidney punch me right after this photo was snapped. No, I have no idea what he was doing in this picture — my guess is a traditional jig. Yes, this is what you do for fun in the Maine woods.

Weight: ? I avoided the scale this morning, but I’ll be back on it tomorrow.
Mood: Pleasantly tired.
Misc: I can’t stop saying Baaaahhhh Hahhhbaaaah (Maine speak for “Bar Harbor”) to all and sundry.

As some of my friends know, I eat black bean burritos almost every day. I’m like an addict or something (more like incredibly lazy). BUT LOOK mi amigas, yesterday I had —- drum roll, please —- portobello mushroom burritos instead!

And that’s waaaaaay different, right? Right?!?!

So, I’m busy packing for our trip and then as soon as the darling husband gets home from work we need to go shop Halloween costumes for the party we are going to while in Maine. Hubby is being difficult and has put the kibosh on all of my suggestions, so only the Great Pumpkin knows what we’ll be going as. If it is particularly offensive, revealing, or foolish, rest assured I will be providing photos.

Talk to you guys when I get back!

Today’s Weight: 139.4.
Mood: Anticipatory.
Miscellaneous: Jo sings: My country tis of thee, from my porch I can see, Russia and such…!

I was up at 5 am for another over-10-mile-run this morning (yippee!) and I think I can finally say I’m getting used to this distance. I have a great route that includes running over a big bridge twice, to emulate the half-mary I’ll be doing in February, and is visually interesting so it keeps my attention the whole way (and distracts me from how damn far I’m running!).

Someone doesn’t like to get up at 5 a.m.!

And I’m hoping that since it was in the upper 60s this morning I won’t get the horrible heat rash on my face that I suffered with after my long run last week. I took some great suggestions from friends about how to avoid the rash and this morning I used a gentle wet-nap at the halfway point, rinsed my face several times during the run, and put Calamine lotion on after my shower. My face is showing minor irritation, but nothing like last time, so we’ll see how it is in the morning. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t look like a plague victim again.

I leave for Maine (again) on Thursday and I’m looking forward to a couple of cold weather runs just to mix things up. I also plan on turning 41 while hiking in Acadia on Saturday, so that should be a fun way to celebrate my older age. Too bad we aren’t going to be close to the Maine portion of the trail-that-should-not-be-discussed because it would have been cool to hike even a small bit of it since I’m still (secretly & quietly) obsessed. But I will settle for the coastal beauty of Acadia for this trip.

Today’s Weight: 139.
Mood: Excited.
Miscellaneous: I want someone to pack for me. Volunteers?

The thought police (my husband) chastised me for all my recent mooning over the Appalachian Trail (which doesn’t figure into my future any time real soon) when in March/April we are planning to spend 2 weeks in Italy. I’m supposed to be planning our itinerary and so far I’ve done pretty much nothing.

So, va bene, it’s all about Italy now. We’ll most likely be flying from JFK direct to Pisa (or Pizza, as my husband likes to call it) and spending a few days in that area (which I think is Tuscany) with a friend. And then…. I have absolutely no idea.

I better go to the library, molto rapido! <— probably not real Italian.

So my new obsession is the Appalachian Trail. So far I’ve read several books and scads of stuff online. I’m currently reading two more books on the subject (I often read more than one book at a time, I don’t know why), including one about a blind dude who thru-hikes the trail with his guide dog (can you say WOW?). So, yeah, I want to thru-hike the trail (which means hike the whole 2100 mile stretch from George to Maine all at one time).

Unfortunately, nobody I know wants to do it and everyone I know thinks it is dangerous and kooky. My mom physically shudders when I dare speaketh of the trail-that-shouldn’t-be-named. She’s sure I’d be raped, trampled by a moose, struck by lightning, bitten by a snake, tossed off a cliff, and eaten by a bear. Her fears aren’t total unwarranted, as whackjob Gary Hilton killed Meredith Emerson after meeting her on the trail, and the story is about as horrifying as it gets. There have been other deaths on the trail, some women, some men, and not all caused by whackjob killers. Mother Nature can be deadly and hypothermia, lightning, rattlesnakes, bears, etc. are all a threat. But from what I’ve found only about 8 people have died on the trail, though many more in the woods surrounding the trail so I think saying only 8 is probably putting too fine a point on it.

I would never hike it alone, that’s for certain — even though it totally pisses me off to say that. If I were a man I’d have no such worries about hiking alone, which is so unfair. But that’s reality. My husband would hike it with me (he’s hiked for months in the Himalayas of Nepal, the AT probably wouldn’t even be as much of a challenge) but it isn’t practical for him to take off four months from work when he is our breadwinner. Maybe when we are both retired it will be something we can tackle, if our knees are still good by then!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing with my time. Reading and running, running and reading. And painting hurricane shutters (blech).

Today’s Weight: 140.2.
Mood: Pensive.
Miscellaneous: Why must the frogs crap all over my glass door, huh? They sure do have some nasty crap.

Now that I’m sitting here at my goal, I realize that I still have weight I’d like to lose. So I’ve decided to set my sights on 130 and see how I look when I get there. According to the CDC, 130 would put me at the lower end of a normal BMI range for my height, which I think is probably right for me. Yes, I am tall, but I have a very small frame — though for years I told myself I was “big-boned”. I remember being at a doctor appointment once and trying to excuse my extra weight with the “big-boned” theory and the doctor actually laughing and saying, “you are by no means ‘big-boned’, in fact, you’re tiny — but you are significantly overweight.” He was right, of course, if rather painfully blunt.

I’d like to run here some day… For more gorgeous runs, check out Runner’s World Rave Runs!

Also, I would really like to be as absolutely light as possible for the sake of running. I have my father as a role model in this respect. He keeps his body weight very low in order to maximize his running efficiency — and he regularly wins his age group at local races. And while I’m probably never going to be as gifted a runner as he is, I can certainly improve (and I have the rest of my life to try!). And being lighter would definitely be helpful.

So my plan: well, I’m not going to change anything about my calorie intake yet (maintenance usually involves upping calories slowly until you are no longer losing) and just see where my weight settles with my current routine. Since I lost over 1/2 pound last week, I think I can continue slowly losing for a while with no changes.

Today’s Weight: 139.2.
Mood: Silly.
Miscellaneous: Can a person survive eating just green beans? Hmmmm.