Monday, July 18, 2011

running in the heat and food diaries

After a beautifully soft morning rain, it cleared up and is beautiful and sunny.  And humid!  My day was off to a rip-roaring start at about 5:20 a.m. when hubby called from the car (it`s his first day back to work after 2 weeks off), a little panicky that he had gotten gas at the swipe and go station around the corner, and then couldn`t find his visa.  Of course it was raining fairly hard at this point, but I am a good wifey (sort of...anyway...) and threw on shorts and a jacket over my tank/jammy top and jumped in the van to go see if it had fallen out of his pocket at the station.  Of course I wandered around in the rain, half asleep and without glasses to see if I could find it.  Had fun trying to find his name in my blackberry address book without my glasses, to call him to say I couldn't find it.  Headed back home, and a few minutes later he called to say he had found it, it had fallen down between the car seat and the door.  Glad he found it, but then I was up for the day.  So I opened all of the windows and made coffee, and listened to the soft rain while I checked my email and facebook.  At that point, didn't really have time for my run and didn't really feel like it to be honest.  So I decided to wait until after I dropped  Jess off at work.  And the rain cleared up to afore mentioned sunny skies.

Headed out for my run, and quickly discovered that at 8:30ish, it was already starting to heat up for the day.  In fact, I think I sweated as much during that run as I have on any yet this summer.  I even folded up my shirt and ran with my white belly exposed.  And if you know me, you know how careful I am to never expose that white belly to the world.  I have to add for your peace of mind that I run at the track, sheltered from public view by trees, completely alone.  Whew!  But I got it in, and drank a bunch of water, and did some glorious yoga stretches when I got home.  Beautiful and I feel great!

So inspired in fact, I decided to take the slipcovers off of my Poang chairs (Ikea) to throw them in the washing machine.  All part of my happiness project I blogged about yesterday.  Kind of hard to find peace when filthy slipcovers are mocking you every time you sit in the family room...but I digress.  I may live to regret taking the foam out of them.  It was like wrestling an unwilling toddler into a carseat.  I can only imagine what hell it's going to be trying to get the foam back in them!  Good thing I was still sweaty from my run.  Would have ticked me off to get all sweaty again after my shower!

Another part of my "renewal" project that is designed to bring me happiness is to tighten up my diet again.  I have been eating stuff that is not good for me or my allergies, and is not going to help to make the white belly shrink to flatness.  My ND asked me to keep a food diary for a week, and to email it to her.  Of course that request in itself has given me the kick in the a** needed to clean up my eating.  So I'm back on my strict allergen-free diet, and that includes no alcohol, no sugar, way fewer carbs (goodbye rice, my old friend!) and only 2 servings of fruit a day.  Bring on the veggies, beans and more veggies!  More water is in order too, and also the 4 cups of green tea I'm supposed to be drinking a day.  I'm thinking iced, with lots of lemon and lime.  Maybe a touch of agave syrup or stevia to make it palatable. 

I also decided when I was running that perhaps I need to give myself a break.  I have given birth to 4 babies, my tummy is NOT going to look like it did when I was 20 and childless.  At the beach the other day, I was amazed to see so many bikinis, and women who clearly were quite fine with their real women bodies (flipping the bird to the media images of what women should look like!).  If they can do it, so can I!  Maybe not publicly at first (I don`t want to blind people with my white belly!), and I do need to work up to it.  I have not worn a bikini since I was in Florida when I was 19!  Maybe its time.  I do know I won`t be trying any on at Winners though--those mirrors are likely responsible for many eating disorders and slashed wrists!  Maybe by the end of August.  So if you're planning trips to the beach later this summer, you might want to be sure you have super shaded sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glare.  There's only so much that a few weeks of  bikini top wearing on my deck can do to turn my flesh from white to lightish pinkish, beigeish.

Hope you are all keeping coolish and enjoying this all too brief glorious summer weather. 

No comments: