Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hey! Guess what? It was snowing today. I think that makes for three out of five runs in the snow. I just love running in the snow. The feel of the cold wet splats in your face (today's brand of snowflakes were about two inches in diameter), your thighs getting colder and colder (luckily my polyester jogging pants seem to repel the water), and most especially that exciting feeling of "Am I going to slip and fall on my face as I "run" down this hill?" Just think - someone could watch me run, yank my underwear out of my butt, and then fall on said butt. How much more entertaining could I be? Why oh why did I not wait until real spring arrived? Oh. Wait. That's because here in Nova Scotia that could be July - and even then, I'll just be running in the rain instead of the snow. Obviously my extreme love of this place has to do with things other than the weather.

I added another, more subtle level to the entertainment level of my runs today - my watch. Like I said before, I have never owned a digital watch. This thing has five buttons, measures time in hundreths of a second, keeps track of the date, the day of the week, the time, when I want to wake up, and what I am having for supper. My plan is to use it to tell me when my one minute of running is up, and then when to start running again. I decided I would use the timer feature, and reset it every time I switched between walking and running. Simple? You'd think. You'd also think I would try it out before I left the house. Not so. Instead, I was trying to walk/"run" while figuring it out - somewhat akin to rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. It can be done - but it requires a silly amount of concentration. Ideally, the timer should run for one minute, and then - beep - stop, beep - reset, beep - restart, and repeat. Not so! It was more like one minute, then beep - what did that do? Oh, okay, maybe that button. Beep - okay it stopped. Beep - why is it running again?! Beep - okay got it stopped. Beep - hey, that didn't reset, it's telling me that I am having chicken for supper. Beep - okay, reset. Beep - whew, get running would ya? It was not good.

However, it was absorbing, and my time on the streets seemed to pass quickly. As a matter of fact, it was so quick, I think I might have only run five times, not six. I don't see how this could be, since I went the exact same distance I always do... perhaps I have increased in speediness so much that I covered the distance so much more quickly? Perhaps since my warm up walk was so exactly five minutes (not 5.01 minutes), I warmed up for longer than I have been? Or perhaps, just perhaps, I spent too long beeping my beeping watch? I'll never know, I guess.

And, one more thing - note to self: pink bikinis no good either.

It's no longer free.

I didn't run yesterday. Instead, I spent the day searching out the ideal timepiece to accompany me on my "runs". This is what I know I need so far:

• digital - able to track my time to the hundredths of seconds (you never know when you might need to know whether it took me 32.14 or 32.15 minutes)


• waterproof - I live in Nova Scotia - no more needs to be said.


• easy to read - this shoving my wrist in my face thing needs to go. I'd like to be able to see it with a minimum of extra movement - I think I'm doing enough already, you know?


• not unattractive - digital watches, by their nature, are unattractive. But as this watch will spend a lot of time on my wrist (I am thinking I could also use it to prevent lateness, something that plagues me), I would prefer if it either made some kind of fashion statement (hmmmmm..... maybe I should rethink this - I don't hear fashion statements very well, they always sound like they are spoken in a different language) - so maybe it just should be not very noticeable.


• cheap. free would be nice, but cheap will have to do. Of course, this probably means a trip to my favourite store. Walmart. With three children. I'm sure you've seen me there.

So, off I sailed to Walmart, where I got to choose from about five models at two price levels. In Walmart's defense (like it needs any!), they had more, they were just over my $20 budget. After eliminating the cheapest one, which looked - well, cheap - I eliminated the remaining ones for ugliness, hugeness, intimidatingness, and ugliness. That of course, eliminated all of them (I guess my dislike of digital watches is bigger than I thought), so I chose between the two ugly ones, and came home with a watch that is not too big, has a velcro strap, is black and silver, and will keep track of things to the one hundredth of a second. So, I have spent my first money on this endeavour - $14.91. About as much as a pizza, come to think of it. But less calories.

Munchy bum

24 hours later, and I'm out again. In case you aren't keeping track - that's three "runs" now. In four days. In March. In Nova Scotia. Pretty freakin' impressive. And here is a piece of advice for you - March in Nova Scotia is not the best time to take up a sport such as running. It is cold and damp. C-c-c-cold. If you are thinking of doing this - wait 'til April.

The running is going quite well. My route is the smallest block I can access from my house, and I am going around it twice. Going the same route for three days (so six loops, for the mathematically challenged) makes everything more predictable, and since my body is now a bit forewarned, it is also a bit forearmed. In other words, my brain is finding somewhere pleasant to go while my body deals with pounding the pavement. It was actually on this run that I decided I would follow through with my intention to write about this experience. I daydreamed about how witty I would be, and how my fame would spread slowly over the internet, until some bigwig at a big time publishing company read it, and made me an extremely lucrative book offer. So, bigwig, if you are out there reading this - I knew you'd like it! And sure, we can do lunch. But only if there is no coke, cookies or chocolate there.

I developed a problem shortly after I left home this time. My underwear decided that they were cold too, and crawled up my butt to keep warm. I tend to have a problem that Tony has affectionately dubbed "munchy bum", and my bum was definitely munchy today. So every ten or fifteen steps I had to yank them out - I am sure it was very entertaining for any one who happened to be watching. So, note to self - do not wear the black bikinis when "running".

I accept.

Julia, I believe, is concerned about the amount of sugar I consume. I am concerned by the fact that my jeans are no looser than they were before I started all of this. Julia challenged me to give up cookies, chocolate and real coke for six weeks.

I accept that challenge, starting today.

Should anyone else have a vice they need to give up, and wishes to do this along with me, it would be very very helpful, and I will be eternally grateful. Post in the comments if you're riding the deprivation train with me.

I am not sure what I am going to do about the plethora of homemade cookies around right now, and the last bag of Leclerc Quattro cookies, though. Maybe I should start in a couple of days??

Blah. Just blah.

I took yesterday off, fooling myself into thinking I would do some weights with Tony. He didn't, so I didn't. Guess I shouldn't have taken the day off....

Because today, it just doesn't seem real. It must be someone else who is supposed to lace up those shoes and head out the door. It can't be me who is going to ask these legs to run - uphill - in the cold. However, I just looked in the mirror, and it turns out it is me, dressed and ready to go, right down to the borrowed too delicate watch, and the borrowed Rangers toque.

I went anyway, you'll be pleased to know. My performance was less than stellar. I had troubles with time keeping today - this watch is not a delicate digital watch, in case you hadn't figured that out - it is a delicate, small, difficult to read analog, with a second hand so feathery I have to put the watch right up to my face to see it. Since this involves pushing my gloves back every time, as it is also not a waterproof not digital watch, it is a pain. I screwed up on the times all over the place - even running too long once! And that strange slow down happened on the last run again - it really felt like that one minute was never ever going to end.

Of course it did, and now I am home, cozy and showered, and ready to do it again!

The girl can eat

6 gingerbread cookies (at once)

A&W mozza burger combo with rings and real coke

2 small coffee crisp chocolate bars

half cup cream cheese icing, straight from bowl

many more gingerbread cookies, "dipped" in icing

several caramel filled chocolate bunnies

a large tablespoon of peanut butter studded with chocolate chips

12 Leclerc PeanutButter Quattro cookies

3 chocolate easter eggs

1 (bag of) Leclerc Maple Quattro cookies

That was what I posted in my food confessional for the past week, and it is pretty (embarassingly) accurate. I roughed out the calories, and it is close to 5000... since it takes about 3500 to lose a pound, by simply avoiding these foods, I could have shed another pound! Yikes!

And, in the spirit of honesty, let me just say that I decided not to count the five pieces of home made pizza with pepperoni and bacon on it that I had for supper last night. After all - it was a planned supper, not an indulgence. And I did have a big green salad first. And most of the Coke I drank was diet! That's gotta count for something.......

24 hours later......

and I'm at it again. Today it's sunny and 0 degrees, which feels a lot more civilized then yesterday.

My body feels ok - minor stiffness here and there, but nothing to speak of. My shoes on the other hand, are whining about going out again. (You have to remember that they have gone from not being used at all, to being used once a week, and now twice in a row!). I told them to suck it up, it will only be hard at first, and that if they didn't stop whining, I would retire them. (An empty threat, because new shoes aren't in the budget for a bit, so nobody tell my shoes that.)

Mentally, I am kind of psyched. Going once - well, after all my talk, I could hardly be expected no to. Going twice - well, surely that puts me in the category of serious runner.

Same wardrobe as yesterday. Same route as yesterday. On my second one minute run, though, it became apparent that someone had somehow slipped a couple of ten pound weights into my shoes. I'm serious! I could hardly lift those suckers, they were so heavy. They stayed there into my third run, but miraculously disappeared for my fourth (which, coincidentally, I'm sure, was downhill.) And then, on my sixth and final run, someone slowed the clock down. And I mean waaaay down - that last run took forever.

So, summary of day two: Sun = good. Heavy legs = not good. Last run = very long. Me = happy.