Random Check-In Post

Hello hello!

I've been aiming to send out January on a good note. Since last week, my eating has been pretty good. I'm not counting calories so much as trying to eat intuitively and smartly. It seems to be working out well so far. I was up to 279 last Friday, and after my run this morning, the scale read 270. I'm pretty excited about that and really, really want to keep the momentum going so that I can finally land in the 260s and never look back.

It's been a great running week. I'm easing back into a regular routine after doing just one run a week since the holidays. Including this morning's run, I squeaked in three, hooray! Wednesday was a pretty cool four-miler run mostly on my own (though out with a group) – I wanted to see if I could still do that distance, and was very happy with the results even though the snow-covered roads slowed me down a little bit. Yesterday's outing was disappointing, logging just 1.38 miles and suffering the whole time. Not sure why, it was just one of those runs. I still got out there and did something, right?

Today was better. I finally joined a group of runners called the Old Falls Street Run Club at the nudging of one its members who I often run into at Fleet Feet events. After all, it's based right here in Niagara Falls where I live! I was always a little scared to come out for their free runs, though, because I was worried that I was too slow, and just a general fear of the unknown. I found out how silly that was today, because for the first time in a while I had someone to run with at my pace! My friend Janice, in fact. I got 2.5 miles in with her at a good pace, averaging around 14:40. Niagara University, where we ran, keeps its roads nice and clear, so no worries about ice or snow to navigate – just the extreme cold, a frosty 18 degrees.

It's so nice to get back into the habit of running more regularly. It makes me feel so good afterward, and the effect can last into the next day, as it has for me this past week! I love it.

I've been having a lot of thoughts related to what I am doing and keep thinking, "Oh, I need to remember that for the blog," but then it gets forgotten. So many things. I've been at this now for about 20 months, which is the longest I've stuck with it in my whole life. The fact that I've been able to maintain most of what I've lost for almost six months totally dazzles me and gives me hope that this is something that I can stick with for the rest of my life. I feel like I did find the secret in some ways. I'm doing it. But really, only time will tell, won't it?

There's still so much work to do. And after that, after I reach my goal, it's going to be staying on top of it, well, forever. And I am OK with that. First I need to get to where I am going, though.

At least 100 more pounds. It's a lot, but I've already done it once. That one time? It wasn't so bad. I can do it again for sure.

100 pounds is a lot to think about, so I need to keep my focus on the smaller goals, the smaller steps that will get me there. Lose 25 pounds four times. Lose ten pounds ten times. Lose five pounds twenty times. Lose one pound 100 times.

I am on it.