Well, aisle be

It was looking desperate.

 Don’t be fooled by the look of the fridge –
a good chunk is breast milk and three types of leftover buns.

No milk. No eggs. No fruit of any kind. The peanut butter was dangerously low, as was the bread and orange juice.

Trying to find something for breakfast was like an episode of “Chopped” – oats made with water, sunflower seed butter and reduced sugar grape jelly with a side of pre-cooked turkey sausage that I found in the depths of the freezer. Thank God, I had some half-caff coffee or I might have been marching to Burger King for a Croissan’wich and cup of joe.

Instead, I bundled up Miles and marched down to Kroger.

I guess that’s the perk of a workday that starts at 10 a.m.

We blazed down the aisles, tossing in bananas and clementines, spinach and broccoli (for Spinnocoli Pizza), flour and marshmallows (for holiday treats) and frozen meals and Kroger’s Private Selection ice cream (for Mark).

An hour and $93 later, Miles and I had everything on the list … and then some. What can I say? I really wanted grapes … and Diet Coke.

What are your grocery staples?

Mark has to have for the week: bananas, orange juice, milk, beer, cereal bars, frozen breakfast items (i.e. Jimmy Dean sandwiches or waffles), frozen meals for lunch and a frozen pizza.

Me? I need at least two kinds of fruit, baby carrots, fat-free hot chocolate, peppermint tea, Progresso light soups (vegetable barley is my fave), eggs for breakfast and wheat bread.

Up a creek

Move that body: 4.27-mile run

I am starting to get scared. Like, really scared.

For the past two days, it has rained.

Source

And rained.

Source

And rained.

Totally fine. I guess. After all, it's not like I can control these sorts of things.

But it would be nice if I could because, you know, I have this race on Saturday. A trail race. A trail race that promises to be more technical and difficult than the others (ahem, one) I've done and that's without the help of two days of rain.

Rain + trail race = no good. Rain + trail race, even with a day to dry up = one hot mess.

I was directed to the video, on RunIndiana, by pal and teammate L. What was probably a little ditch along the trail is now a full fledged river.

OK. Creek.


Still. It doesn't look like the kind of place you want to run through when the day's high is in the mid-30s - especially if it's in an early section of the 10+ mile course.

I'm thinking of packing extra socks (read: stuffing 'em in my cleavage) for after my dip in the river, and there will definitely be extra clothes for the ride home. L says I should just wear some old shoes, remember that I paid to do this and pretend it's one of those mud runs without the hefty registration fee (read: a nice way of telling me to stop the whining).

Yeah ... I'll be taking the socks.

Any advice or encouragement out there?

Breaking up is hard to do

I have a confession to make.

I haven’t counted a single Weight Watchers PointsPlus in more than a month and it’s been at least twice that long since I’ve weighed in.

And you know what? I’ve lost 5 pounds.

I had been struggling with the PointsPlus program since I returned to Weight Watchers after having Miles. Some of my go-to foods on the WW program were worth more and others were worth fewer. I didn’t know how to plan meals to fit in the program, and I struggled with eating to keep up milk supply. It just seemed that no matter what I did, no matter how closely I thought I was following the plan, the scale would not budge. I knew if I was going to meet my post-baby weight-loss goals that I was going to have to make a commitment to attend meetings or switch things up.

It was a tough decision. I felt a loyalty to the program as it provided me with the tools, support and inspiration I needed to be successful. However, I found it difficult to fit in the meetings near my house now that I’m back to work and I lacked the motivation to scout out times on the weekends. It became clearer and clearer that I couldn’t continue doing something that so obviously wasn’t working for me.

I began tracking my food choices and exercise on MyFitnessPal.com, a site I used while I was pregnant to make sure I wasn’t giving in to the “eating for two” line. The site “gives” me 1,250 calories a day, and I am able to make an adjustment to account for breast feeding bringing me to 1,750 calories. Any exercise I complete gives me more calories for my eating pleasure.

I set up my account to lose 1 pound a week and, with the exception of Thanksgiving week, I have done just that. My post-partum weight loss stands at 14.4, bringing me 2.2 pounds below my WW goal and just 5.8 pounds from my happy weight.

I have no timetable to lose those 5.8 pounds – I merely want to see the scale to go in the right direction and feel in control of the process.

Have you ever made a drastic change in an effort to lose weight?

Tight squeeze

I have a 10-degree rule.

If it's 10 degrees or warmer, I'll run outside. If it's not, I'm ... well ... not. I'll stay inside in favor of a DVD workout or a treadmill run.

While I consider running in 30-degree weather perfect and 20-degree weather to be quite comfortable, it's only possible with the right gear. Half-zip jackets layered over compression tops and tights are standard wear for me when it turns chilly. I've been wearing Target's C9 line the past two winters but found myself in the market for a new pair of tights as I ripped mine last year when the sidewalk tripped me.

Thankfully, the folks at Pearl Izumi and Outside PR came to my aid.I was sent a pair of Pearl Izumi SELCT Thermal Tights to try out.

About the tights

The W's SELECT Thermal Tight is designed for maximum warmth and comfort for cold weather.

[Pretend there's a photo of me wearing said tights right here. I left my SD card at work - don't ask - and couldn't snap any pictures this weekend. If you forgot what I look like, just move your eyes to the right hand corner of this blog.]

My thoughts

I'll be honest - I wasn't sure I was going to like these tights when I first put them on. They seemed to ride lower on my already short frame and the elastic seemed to hit me at an odd spot on my hip bones. It didn't chafe or anything like that but merely felt weird. I have since worn them a handful of times and the fit issue no longer seems to be a problem. It might have helped that I've lost 4 pounds since I first started wearing them. Might have.

My favorite part of the tights is the reflective detailing, both on the front leg and the back (a Pearl Izumi logo). As we all know, I'm all about being seen and I'll take any help where I can.

The tights are great for 20+ degree runs but I'd recommend wearing an outer layer for any run in the teens. I even run a bit hot and felt a bit chilly - though not uncomfortably so - when I ran this weekend. (Oh, yes. I ran this weekend. Twice. I totally made up for a lackluster week with a 4-miler and a 5-miler, both sub-10 pace!)

Parting words

These tights are pretty great and look forward to many cool weather miles ahead this winter although I'll be adding a second layer. However, the $70 price tag will probably keep me from getting a second pair. You know, that's like two boxes of diapers and Miles is refusing to start walking and go to the potty. Geesh. 5-month-olds these days!