I got a promotion!

Today, instead of run 1 minute, walk 1 minute (6x), I ran 2 minutes, then walked 2-3 minutes (5x). The pressing question is, of course, was it twice as hard?

The answer, happily, is no! And I think there are two reasons why:

1. My wardrobe change. A few months back, I picked up a pair of leggings at a thrift store. I used to love wearing leggings with a long sweater - I have good legs, so it showed my assets to their best advantage. I was thrilled to find them, and I just couldn't understand why they were only $1 - didn't everybody want to wear leggings? You just can't find them any more! However, the first time I wore them out in public, I could tell I was just screaming "I wish it were still the '90s!!!". Since I am trying really hard to learn how to dress more fashionably - I take this course once a week - I resolutely stuffed them to the back of my cupboard.
   
   Now, when I see people running, I always evaluate what they are wearing, preparing for the inevitable day when I will update my wardrobe. You can imagine how excited I was when I noticed a few women wearing running tights - which look just like leggings! I ran to my cupboard, freed the leggings (I mean running tights), and voila - a new, more aerodynamic look. Look better, feel better, run faster.
   


2. I didn't run twice as far. I was so happy that it wasn't twice as hard - but when I did the math I realized: I was out for a total of 26 minutes, instead of 17 - a gain of 9 minutes. I ran for a total of 10 minutes - a gain of 4 minutes. Working the percentages, it should have been about 67% harder, not 100% harder. And that sounds just about right.

A little less chocolate, a lot more fat.....

So here are last week's indulgences. You can see a pattern, can't you? The challenge from Julia came right after I made chocolate chip cookies. I did not consume any chocolate, cookies or real Coke after that day. Yeah me! I did, however switch to fatty foods. Wings. Pizza. KFC. Somebody better talk to my food pleasure centre - it just won't give up! Coincidentally, I am still not losing weight. So somebody better talk to my weight loss centre, 'cause it's going to get a beatin' if it doesn't step up soon. Hmmmm... maybe my weight loss centre should beat up my food pleasure centre.......

• 18 chocolate creme cookies


• 3 glasses of Coke


• 6 chocolate chip cookies


• 2 tablespoons cookie dough


• late night chicken wings


• late night pizza (homemade)


• KFC - chicken, fries, gravy, coleslaw


• 1 piece white birthday cake


• 2 pieces fairy gingerbread with whipped cream

And Julia, congratulations on one week without popcorn. You have saved yourself more than 1650 calories and 93 grams of fat. Plus your nasty butter habit.

A Mother's role at Easter...

is to give her children chocolate, which makes them happy. Then, once they are out of sight, she is to slowly pick at their chocolate, thereby protecting her children from overconsumption of chocolate.

Due to a challenge I am currently doing my best to meet, I can't do this. AND IT's KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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??