What a Week!

This past week has gone by fast and blogging has not been a high priority. Although there are updates worth mentioning.. 

After having Camper for less than a week I caught Marley and Camper coexisting.

Marley wasn't too sure at first, but it didn't take her long to realize Camper is harmless and friendly, even if she did have a difficult first day home alone.

On the first day she also jumped on the kitchen table, through the nook into the laundry room, broke a light that was going to be hung in the bathroom and ate all of the cats food. She now spends time in the backyard when we are at work and it has been working really well! 

There has also been a lot of this going on: 

Doggy kisses!!!

I went to weigh in on Tuesday night and I am so glad I did. Not just because I lost and not just because the Vice President of Weight Watchers was at our meeting, but because a member was celebrating her one year anniversary of being a lifetime member. 

Her story was inspirational and there were quite a few parts that hit home with me, especially the negative self talk and how difficult it is to not just be the one to dish it out but to also be the one receiving it. 

I ended up losing 1.4 this past week, bringing me out of the 180's. But, this week has not been the best so I'm feeling as though I will be back up next week, and that's okay. 

The main thing I learned from the meeting was when the leader asked what we had learned over the past week. I answered that I had learned that I am not defined by the number on the scale. It does not matter what it says. Obviously I'm going to still do this to try to lose weight. I want to and need to because I want to be healthy, but I am not a number. My personality is not defined by any number, not the scale or my BMI or my pant size. And the best part is what my leader had to say at the end of the meeting. There was a story about a member who had lost 70 pounds in 100 weeks. She looked back over her weight history and noticed she had lost 57 of those 100 weeks and had gained or maintained 43 of those weeks. 

Gains and maintains happen and it's okay. It's a part of the process. I'm going to be more than okay no matter what the scale says.

The only numbers I care about are my running numbers. My mileage and my pace and other things that I can measure and improve on. 

As of today I have gone 88.84 miles for the month of July, 749.55 miles for the year and 2499.56 miles since I started tracking on January 1, 2012.

I may have skipped my long distance run of 3 miles last week due to spending time getting the house ready for family and choosing to stay home playing with the dog. I justified it with the fact that the weekend before was a half and I would be increasing my mileage with the more frequent walks with Camper. 

I was not looking forward to running 5.5 miles alone this morning. I can handle a half marathon alone because there are a lot of people around you and I find that there's always someone there when I need that support the most. It can be another runner, a volunteer, a police office directing traffic shouting out support or knowing someone is waiting at the finish line. Running alone for any distance is difficult and a feat all on its own. 

But I went out today and I ran. The first two miles were uphill and difficult but so worth it when I got to the top and could start the downhill. 

Saturday 7/26

Mile 1- 12:30

Mile 2- 11:46

Mile 3- 12:45

Mile 4- 12:18

Mile 5- 11:58

Total distance- 5.60

Total time- 1:09:22

Avg pace- 12:23

I decided to take before pictures today. A couple months late, but I needed something to compare down the road. I have my weight, my measurements and now I have this:

I'm feeling great today and have been this whole week. No matter what the results are at weigh in. 

I'm excited to be in a better place and to know what my priorities are. You can't out run a bad diet, but when running makes you happy it is worth it!