hbbc week 1

Well, my inaugural week of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge started off as a bit of a whimper.

I only managed to log 18 miles of running and walking.  Add another 2 points for two days of eating more than 7 servings of fruits of vegetables (yay me!) and I have a whopping 20 points so far.

Here's the breakdown, the lowdown, the tally, the score...
Saturday - 6.05 miles run, 2.36 miles walked
Sunday - nothin'
Monday - 2.53 miles walked
Tuesday - nada
Wednesday - 1.85 miles walked
Thursday - 3.51 miles run AND I'd like extra credit please, because we hosted Thanksgiving dinner!
Friday - 2.08 miles walked

If you haven't already read this book,
you should.  It's fabulous! But I'd
recommend skipping the movie.

I was hoping to run on Friday too, but wasn't feeling well so I skipped it.  I hope my illness isn't related to my cooking???  I felt even worse yesterday so I was a complete slacker and didn't do anything except lay around and watch bad movies like Water For Elephants.  I LOVED the book - I couldn't read it fast enough it was so good.  The movie was.......boring. (Although I must admit, the whole Robert Pattinson thing?  I think I get it now.)  Anywhoo, I'm still not feeling the greatest but I think I'm going to head out with Jane later and see how it goes.

Hopefully, HBBC week 2 will be much more substantial.

Oh, and in case you want more compelling workout details, I post my workouts on dailymile.com for all to see.  What's dailymile, you ask?  It's kind of like Facebook for walkers, runners and triathletes.  It's chock full of super supportive fellow athletes (and yes, if you're getting your butt off the couch and moving, you're an athlete!) who really, truly and honestly care if you prefer honey stingers over GU, folks who will give you a "WTG!" message for going on a walk with your dog, they'll commiserate when you're injured and celebrate with you like crazy when you reach a goal, whether that goal is running one mile or 26.2.  For a cowbell whore like me, it's just what I need to get me up and out the door!

holiday bootie buster challenge!

In an effort to keep ass expansion to a minimum during this holiday season, I've joined the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge put on by Amanda at Run to the Finish.

It's a known fact that I sometimes have portion control issues when it comes to snarfing the foods I love.  (Remember, I had to ban Oreos from the house because I can't be trusted to not eat an entire package in one sitting.)  Oh, and did I mention that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?  Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, whipped cream....... I deny myself nothing at Thanksgiving.  Oh my, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Making sure the turkey is ready to serve.

And as long as we're being all sorts of honest here, let's acknowledge that internal motivation isn't exactly my strong suit.  Remember when I was asked if I'm a cowbell whore?  That's one of the reasons I love races so much - cowbell comes in so many different forms: Crowds cheering!  Medals!  Sometimes, even beer!! So what's the big draw for the HBBC?  Free stuff.  Really COOL free stuff.

Free Stuff = Cowbell.

And all I have to do is maintain some semblance of a workout plan and log it on a spreadsheet.  I can do that.

The HBBC starts tomorrow and runs through the first week in January - the perfect span of time.  I'm optimistic that this challenge will get me through the holiday eating season unscathed and having maintained my current weight.  Success will mean I won't have to add "lose vast amount of poundage" to my marathon training plan when training kicks off in January.  That would be fabu.

I am SO ready for this.  I've been carb loading for weeks in anticipation!!

hallucinatory cowbell

I am hooked on dailymile.com.

Cowbell - I always want more.

For those of you who haven't discovered DM, it's kind of like Facebook for runners, cyclists and triathletes.  I stumbled upon it in January while looking for a race widget for my blog.  It seemed like a nice place to record my workouts but I didn't begin to fully utilize it until recently.  By fully utilize, I mean, I didn't tap into the DM community.  What a supportive group of people on there!  Lots of knowledge, friendliness, humor, good advice, consoling when needed, and cowbell - something of which I am always in more need.  (For players of point-based Corporate Buzzword Bingo: 2 points for "utilize," 4 points each for "tap into" and "fully utilize," and 50 point bonus for having "fully utilize" show up in consecutive sentences.)

I've had a pretty decent week: got some miles in (20 total), and did a couple of kettlebell classes.  The weather has been kind of sucky so I've spent too much time on the treadmill.  I'm so grateful to have one right in my own house but dang, I get soooooo tired of running on it.  So yesterday, despite the 31 mph wind gusts, the blowing and drifting snow and the ice, I decided to go outside for my seven mile run.  I just couldn't face seven on the treadmill.

WHAT was I thinking???  It was brutal.  We got about one inch of snow which was getting whipped into a frenzy by the wind.  There were times I couldn't see because the snow was blowing so hard.  Things did settle down somewhat weather-wise but it was a really tough run.  And all that ice made for some exciting times.  But I managed to stay upright - yay core!! - and my last mile was the fastest one of the run.  Whoo hoo!!  I did have one really hilariously surreal moment during my run.  Somewhere in the middle of mile 5, I was running through a neighborhood and this kid - he was about 5 or 6 years old - came barreling out of a driveway like a rabid dog, blew past me (all the while looking at me like I was the neighborhood creeper) and ducked into another driveway and <poof!> he was gone.  So that was weird enough, but it was his outfit that put the whole experience over the top: looked like he was wearing his dad's (or more likely, his grandpa's) brown plaid coat, red pants and I shit you not, bright blue swim googles.  Total WTF moment.  I thought I was hallucinating.

Back to dailymile.com.....  I posted about my impending run - figured I needed the accountability so that I actually got my butt out the door - and then posted once I returned.  I got SO MUCH support (AKA precious cowbell) both before and after, it made me feel great about getting out there and battling the elements for my little seven mile run.

But I can tell I'll have to clean up my language for my posts.  People on there are much nicer than I am and I have yet to see anyone refer to themselves as a whore of any kind.