Salty, sweet, and carbs

I…am not posting pictures of most of what I ate today.  The “must have salt and sweet and carbs” PMS monster took over.  I put a huge dent in a bag of community pita chips at work.  There was a mid-afternoon Tootsie Pop.  It wasn’t pretty.

After work was better.  I decided, in the spirit of “To run faster, you have to run faster” to, well, run fast.  Two miles, fast.  17:36.  Average pace?  8:48!  I felt incredible.  It was hard, but not awful.  I just KNOW I can check off my goal of a 26:59 5K this year sometime.  I can feel it!

Unfortunately, it feels like this.

Blisters.  Again.  On Monday, my feet were pristine—I got a pedicure the morning of the wedding, and God bless that Lisa, she took a cheese grater to them and they looked almost normal, save for the black toenail.

On my way home, I was counting the minutes until I could walk in the door and rip my shoes off.  I literally felt like my feet were being squeezed, HARD.  I don’t feel like my shoes are too small lengthwise, per se—but I feel almost like they’re too small from top to bottom, if that makes sense.  I think the orthotics take up a lot of room in the shoe and my foot feels kind of compressed.  Sigh.  As soon as I can, I’m paying a visit to the running store.  Again.  Ugh.

Dinner was my ultimate comfort food.

There’s nothing like it when you’re feeling gross.  Obviously, this was totally healthy, because it was Annie’s mac n’ cheese and a whole wheat bun.  Right? 

One more work day until the honeymoon!  I’m dying here.  So. Excited.

Administrative note: Once I get our CD of professional pictures, I’m going to do full recaps of the wedding day!  Our photographer said we’d have them within a month of the wedding.

What foods do you lack self-control around?  For me, it’s chips of any kind—I’ll take a handful here and there until they’re gone, which is why I don’t buy them!  But when they show up at work…watch out.

Need for speed

Hummus craving?  Satisfied.

Love it.  Although garlicky hummus breath is an issue.

I also had my usual spinach/balsamic combo, some cantaloupe (although it was hard and flavorless and I’m probably just going to dump the rest), and yogurt with granola.

Work today was CRAZY.  I wasn’t feeling the gym.  But I knew I should.

I decided that not feeling like going + blistering from the orthotics meant that I should keep today’s workout short.  I decided to run two miles.  After a mile, I decided to run much faster than I usually do and cranked the treadmill up to an 8:30 pace.  And…I felt fine.  It was hard, but not un-maintainably so.  In fact, I sped up and finished at a 7:50 pace!  All in all, I ran my second mile in 8:22, a new personal record for me.

While I was running so fast, (aside from biting my tongue REALLY HARD OW) I was thinking about fear.  I think I stick with “comfortable” numbers on the treadmill because I’m afraid of failing.  I know I can run a 9:50 mile, and I’ll do it well.  An 8:00 mile?  Scary.  I don’t know if I can do that.  I think my asthma is a factor here—I’m afraid that if I push hard, something bad will happen (although, realistically, I know my limits and would stop before that happened.)

I think the fact that I’m punching in a specific speed on a treadmill is holding me back.  Unfortunately, treadmill running is my best option for running most of the time.  I wonder how fast I’d be if I just found a flat surface and ran, you know?  So, from here on out…I’m going to run faster.  As Kath once wrote, “To run faster, you have to RUN FASTER.”  (Or something like that.) 

Even though I ran fast, and for less time than yesterday, my feet still blistered.  I’m beginning to accept that blistering just might be my normal (though I’m still going to try a wider shoe and see what happens).  Eff. 

In other news, we had our first kitchen fire today.

Tim put it out quickly.  (He set a paper towel on a hot burner.) But our house is smelling a little smoky.  Oops.

Milhouse ran and hid.

Buckley didn’t move.

It’s comforting to know our animals would save us in a disaster.

Two more work days until the honeymoon!  And two questions:

1. How do you conquer your fears?

2.  Runners: how do you figure out your comfortable pace and stick with it?