Another 6.5!

So I waited until a little later in the evening today to go for my run. Left the house at 6:15 and it was still 97 degrees. Blah. By the time I was almost done with mile 3, it had cooled off considerably (it's supposed to storm later) so I decided to keep going. And ended up doing another 6.5 miles. And I feel like I pushed myself to run more of it this time. Not a lot more--still having trouble breathing and troubles with my left foot and ankle. I alternated walking and running and pushed myself to do the hills. I have to admit, there were a few I couldn't get all the way up (that's what she said) without stopping. I'm kinda proud of myself that I did 6.5 miles again though. I do need to do a 2 or 3 mile run though and try to run the entire thing. And maybe throw in a mile run here and there to do some speed work. Problem is, tracks around here suck. So I'll have to map something out with minimal hills--HA.

As I mentioned, my left foot is still bothering me. In the last mile or so, the blister I had on my toe from Monday reblistered. Jerk. And now there is a blister forming on the arch of my left foot as well. What the hell? That one hurts the most, and it's a heck of a lot smaller.

I noticed something today. I'm not sure if this is what made the difference or not, but I had a sprite with my lunch today, and on my run this evening, my fingers didn't swell up. Normally, they look like sausages by the time I'm done running (I have very skinny fingers), but tonight they look and feel almost perfectly normal. They do feel a little stiff, but I think that's more from holding my water bottle and sweating. Or maybe it's just because I waited until a little later in the day. I have no idea what made the difference. But it was a nice change :)

It is now almost 8:30. I'm exhausted. I haven't had anything to eat since lunch, but I'm not all that hungry. Am I the only one who's not hungry after runs/workouts? Occasionally I am really hungry afterward, but most of the time, I feel the best after a run and I'm not hungry at all. Except for morning runs. I'm usually at least a little hungry after those. Now I'm rethinking dinner. I was going to make a frozen pizza (I know, not that healthy), but since I'm not that hungry, I don't know if it's worth it. But then, what else do I make? Blah.

Hopefully sometime in the near future, I'll be able to tell you guys I ran 3 miles without stopping. And then soon after that 5 or 6! Wouldn't that be nice.

Happy Wednesday!

Losing Readers :(

Boy, I am glad I decided not to go run today. My blisters were much worse this morning when I woke up. So, I did what I used to do: used a safety pin to pop them and then put on a bandaid. That may not be the best thing for them, but it worked for me a couple years ago, so it should work now. And yes, I sterilized the safety pin. No yucky infections for me.

Second reason I'm glad I'm not running: it's hot. It was really hot yesterday too, which made me regret not waiting a couple hours to go. Tomorrow I have some errands to run, so I'll wait til a little later in the evening before I go. Not sure I'll go quite as far/long as I did yesterday, though. I guess I'll see how the lungs are doing.

I quit Facebook a few days ago. Really, I wasn't using it for anything but my blog, and I was tired of reading about everyone else's crap. I have loved not having it. I love not knowing every little detail about people. It's nice. However, every action has an equal and opposite reaction: the amount of pageviews I'm getting per day has dropped significantly. So now I'm not sure if it was the best decision to get rid of it. Facebook was a big traffic source for my blog, and now that source is no longer there. I continually post on my Twitter (you can follow me @Run_Chata) about my blog, but as of yet, it doesn't appear that it has been useful. I could make a Facebook page specifically for my blog (I think) but I'm not quite sure how that works. Plus I'd have to go through the hassle of getting people to "like" it or "follow" it or however that works.

That's a little frustrating. For any of you still reading, recommend my blog to your friends. Runners, athletes, people trying to get in shape, people trying to eat healthier, etc. Or anyone who might think I'm funny (which I'm not most of the time, but every once in a while, I crack myself up, so maybe someone else will laugh too). Simply tell them to go to: runchata.blogspot.com

Tomorrow I'll be hitting the pavement again. I'll let you know how it goes!

Lies

As you all know, it's been a while since I've gotten my ass out there for a run. I decided to go after work. Still need to break in the new shoes. It was rough. I walked much, much more than I ran. And ended walking about 6.5 miles. So I didn't run all of that for several reasons. First, even though I took my inhaler before I left, I could not freaking breathe. It hurt to breathe. Kind of hard to run when breathing is painful. By the fourth mile or so, my feet were killing me. Specifically the bottom of my toes were blistering and the arch of my left foot was hurting. I don't know what the deal is with my left foot causing me all these problems, but it's starting to piss me off.

In spite of all that, I never stopped, except when waiting to cross the street. I kept going, and kept a pretty quick pace. It was really hard, especially toward the end. I was exhausted and my feet hurt and my lungs hurt and I just wanted to lie down. Can't say that I had much energy before/during/after this workout. I was tired before I left, but I figured since I usually have more energy/adrenaline after my runs, this would help. It did not. I seriously just wanted to sleep. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad that even though I ran maybe a mile total, I kept going for as long as I did. It was hard, but really I had no choice but to keep going. How else was I going to get home where I could take my shoes off?

I wanted to share with you guys a church sign that I saw on my run (of course if I had an iPhone I could have snapped a quick picture). I'm so proud I actually remembered what it said!  Generally I'm not a fan of church signs. Most of them are lame announcements or unoriginal quotes and whatnot. But every once in a while you come across the witty and clever one. I love those. This one was not witty or clever, but it had a pretty strong message: "The loudest lie is the one you tell yourself." I'm still thinking about it, two hours later. What it means. How it applies to my life. If you think about it, it's right. You can lie to someone else and they might not ever find out. But when you lie to yourself, it echoes constantly in your mind. And depending on what it is, other people can tell when you're lying to yourself too. Telling yourself you can't do something. That's a lie. You can. I can. I can run. If you think you can't, you're not looking at your options. You're not looking for ways to overcome your obstacles. You're just giving up. I tell myself "I can't" a little too often sometimes. Deep down, I know I can. I'm not trying hard enough. Except for today. I totally could and did 6.5 miles, even though it was walked. Tomorrow, I probably could (not can't) but my toes are blistered. If I don't rest them now, they'll be worse later.

That said, I will take tomorrow off. Give my feet/toes a little break. And maybe, somehow get my breathing under control. Obviously it won't happen overnight. But maybe if I keep trying, there will come a day where I can run more than a couple miles without having to stop because I can't breathe. Maybe someday.

Poor = Weight Loss

Some of the fitness blogs I follow (which are more or less people like me trying to lose weight and get in shape) seem to be having the same problem I'm having. Lack of motivation. Hitting that plateau. Getting comfortable. You're doing just enough to stay where you are, so you can eat just about whatever you want.

I do believe I have found the solution. I am well aware that this is not the healthiest solution, but it seems to be working for me. BE POOR! I know, I know, I bitch about it all the time. Shut up. I started looking at it differently. I buy the least amount of food possible to get me through a week or so, and I do try to keep it healthy (eating extremely healthy on a budget is quite difficult). So I have a loaf of bread, jelly, peanut butter, sometimes cheese and some sort of meat, sometimes milk, and whatever else. I try very hard to avoid snacks like cheez-its (although considering I tend to buy them once a week or so from the vending machine, it might be cheaper to just buy a box . . .). So I know that if I have a pbj for lunch, then have something else for dinner and then decide I want a snack, so I make another pbj, I'm limiting the food I have to eat the rest of the week for lunch and dinner.

It's easier to tell yourself you don't need a snack when you don't have snack food. Your snack food is now part of a meal that you're going to need later in the week. Aside from a couple times where I remember I have ice cream, I have cut back on snacking. And I'm eating a lot less at lunch and breakfast, and sometimes dinner too, depending on what I have. When you eat less than you normally do for a long enough time, food fills you up faster and you're not as hungry.

Like I said, it's probably not the best/healthiest approach. And you have the issue of what to eat/buy when you're no longer poor (assuming that happens, and in this case, let's do because I don't want to be poor forever). Once you make more money, you have more money to spend on food. Sure, you can buy more healthy foods, but man those Cheez-its you've been too poor to buy for the past two years just look absolutely delicious.

Of course there is the issue with the poverty level. Junk food is infinitely cheaper than healthy food. And the "healthy" foods that are available are over-processed and full of weird preservatives and such. In this case, poor/poverty = likeliness of obesity. So you have to be at just the right amount of poor to afford some healthy foods, or semi-healthy foods. I eat a lot of pbj's (I'm sure at some point in the near future I'm gonna get sick of them). Pbj's are not the healthiest food, and have quite a bit of sugar and carbs. However, it's better than eating a bag of potato chips or stopping at McDs for a large fry.

And, of course, you still have to work out. I'm struggling in this department a little. It's a large combination of things, but it boils down to I just don't have the energy lately. This could perhaps be related to eating like the poor person I am. But there's also allergies and headaches I seem to be getting on a daily basis. Is it October yet? I'm ready for Excedrin to come back. Although it's been gone so long, I'm sure it won't stay on the shelves long when it first comes out. Shoot.

Let's Talk About How Much Allergies Suck

If any of you have been wondering whether I have gone running lately, no, no I haven't. But I'd say I have fairly decent reasons for not running. Allergies. God. Awful. Allergies. My asthma has been almost unbearable since Thursday. I haven't had a morning since then where I haven't needed to take my inhaler before 7am. It sucks. In addition, my nose is stuffy, my eyes are itchy, and I just don't have the energy. Allergies suck. They suck the life out of you. So, I haven't gone for a run this weekend. 

However, I was not totally unproductive. I did clean. Did some dishes. Some rearranging. Some dusting. And I've watched quite a few movies. Surprisingly, only one of them has sucked so far, so that's nice. I also cooked. Not much, and it's nothing spectacular. Yesterday I had a cheese quesadilla for lunch. Ravioli for dinner (by "cooked," here I mean "I added cheese and put it in the toaster oven"). Today, I was up at 6:30 coughing up a lung. So by 10:30 I was hungry, but I don't have much of anything as far as breakfast food goes. So I decided to make lunch. I figured by the time I finished it would be lunchtime. So I made macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. While I was doing that, I multi-tasked and cooked some ground turkey to have with dinner. 

So that pretty much covers the productivity for the weekend. Assuming my allergies take a vacation and I find some medicine to take care of these headaches, maybe I'll be doing okay and can get myself outside to go for a run sometime this week. I will keep you all updated on my exciting life. I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to hear :)

A Whole Lot of Nothing

So I had every intention of running yesterday evening. That did not happen, thanks to the worst asthma attack I've ever had. It started shortly before I got off work (thankfully, since I didn't have my inhaler) and lasted for about an hour after I had taken my inhaler when I got home. I also took benadryl because when you're coughing like that, trying to breathe, your throat gets scratchy. Once my inhaler finally started working, I was exhausted from coughing and wheezing for the past hour, and the benadryl was starting to kick in. So I fell asleep. And slept. And slept. And slept. Yeah, I pretty much slept through the night. Skipped dinner. Everything. But I wasn't really hungry anyway so going without dinner wasn't a huge deal. Seriously, my appetite has disappeared.

Yesterday for lunch I had some almonds and an apple. Then no afternoon snacks (I sometimes go to the vending machine across the street and get Cheez-its and/or a Snickers). And no dinner. I did have mini blueberry muffins and a coffee for breakfast though. Today I had another fruit crisp/wanna-be pop-tart for breakfast. For lunch I have almonds and the pbj I had brought for lunch yesterday and never ate. (I'm out of apples, as I predicted. Also out of cheese sticks.)

After work, I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing. Because it's Friday. If I feel up to it/get extremely bored, I might go for a run. As for dinner, assuming I'm hungry, well, I have no idea what I'll eat. I think I still have some ravioli, or maybe I'll just make a cheese quesadilla. Those are always good. Definitely running low on food. I think. I'm really not sure what I have left in my fridge.

As for the rest of my weekend, it will look a lot like my Friday night. A lot of nothingness. Maybe a run or two. Maybe some cleaning (less likely than me going for a run). Probably quite a bit of watching Netflix. My life is extremely exciting. But school starts in two-ish weeks, so I'm going to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet while I can. No rest even the weekend before classes start. Lots to do. And I'm hopefully going to get my Mac that weekend because I enjoy waiting until the last minute to do things like that. Fast forward four or five months and that's what my Christmas shopping looks like. Except without the Mac. No way in hell am I buying anyone a Mac. So I guess that's nice, I can avoid the Apple store around Christmas time, which I'm sure is packed with a bunch of morons who have no idea what they're buying. Same with this weekend, tax-free. I'm not shopping. People trying to buy their snot-nosed, bratty kids laptops and shit for school and have no clue what they're doing. No thanks.

Thoughts on Facebook and Food

I'm giving serious consideration to deleting my facebook. Well, probably just deactivating it for a while. I'm sick of people complaining and I'm sick of reading about how great other people's lives are (no, I'm not bitter :p). It's just a waste of my time. I don't care what half of those people are doing with their lives, and yet--because people tend to post the most intimate details of their lives on facebook--I know almost every single thing they've done in the past week. Why? Who the hell knows? I certainly don't care about most of it.

I figure the people who need/want to get a hold of me have my phone number. They can text or call me. And the people who are interested in what I'm doing with my life (not much of anything really) are probably already reading this anyway. The only downside to deactivating my facebook would be this blog. I always post it on facebook, which is where most of my traffic comes from. So I may lose a few readers who are too lazy to read if it isn't linked on facebook. I think I'm okay with that. The ones who really want to read this will.

I've been toying with this idea for a while now. On the one had, I get a lot of family updates through facebook. On the other hand, I rarely post anything on it anymore other than my blog. And I normally check it to see if anyone's commented on the post and things like that. Every other aspect of it is a waste of my time, reading updates about people I'm not really interested in knowing anything about. And the things I could do with the time I normally spend on facebook doing nothing! I could probably get more accomplished with this blog. Or use that time to get some reading done (I've really been slacking in that department lately). Or actually read the news rather than reading about a story on facebook and then looking it up. The possibilities are endless! But I'll probably just stick to those things. No need to over-exert myself.

Now that I have all that out in the open (it feels better to talk things through . . . or write them like I'm talking to myself, talking to an audience. I don't know, now I'm confusing myself) let's get to the things I normally tell you all about, like what I'm eating today.

I had a special K fruit crisp thing for breakfast (they taste kind of like poptarts . . . but not as good). And I had an apple. For lunch, I have everything I didn't eat yesterday, which is almost all of it. Broccoli, apple, pbj. Yesterday I ate my almonds and had a cheese stick. Not sure where my appetite went, although I'm not complaining. To counter the healthy stuff for breakfast and lunch, dinner will be pizza and ice cream. :) Pizza will be from Imo's I think. So hopefully there will be cheese garlic bread. Or toasted ravioli/t-ravs/you should really watch this video. Shit St. Louisans Say. Cracks me up.

And I'll leave you with that video, because it's funny and that's the best way to end things. More tomorrow (can't guarantee anything funny . . . ).