Stupid Kate

I had to cut my scheduled 9 mile long run down to 6 due to my stupid bum foot. It's been fine and feeling great for the last two weeks or so but Saturday morning I decided to be an idiot and run on a solid sheet of black ice and slipped and rolled my ankle. Stupidkatestupidkatestupidkate. The pain is in the exact same spot as before so instead of being even stupider and stubborn and finishing the remaining three miles, I cut my losses and went home to RICE. Luckily, I think I avoided doing too much damage and its still early in my training schedule so I don't think it will put me off too much. Stupid kate!

In other, non-running related news, I'm still swooning over my boy-toy (I called him this to my mother and she about had a fit, I think it's hilarious). Friday night he took me out for Thai food, then for coffee, then we wandered around this little booksotre called The Book Loft. The store has tons of tiny little rooms that twist and wind around endlessly, packed to the ceiling with every book imaginable. I love the charachter and the originality of places like this. Really makes places like B&N feel pretty soulless. We meanderend through the little cubbys, dancing around each other and pointing out book after book after book that we loved for what ever reason. I could have stayed there forever. Eventually. though, they had to close and kicked us out onto the street.

We continued the date at my house where he sat transfixed at my massive book collection (it is a little obscene) and said I could give The Book Loft a run for their money. He showed me his one and only tattoo, his first marathon time on his arm. I swooned. We talked for a little while longer then I kicked him out so I could get to bed. He gave me a kiss and drove off into the night. *sigh* Probably, the best date I've ever had...

More dates

It's going well with the boy. My head is in the clouds for the most part but with one or two toes still firmly planted on earth. He's not perfect by any means (who is?) and I'm trying to not let myself get carried away. It's only been a week and a half after all.

I've been having some great runs here lately. I'm not sure if it's because I seem to run better in the cold or if it's because the time passes by so quickly when you have a running partner that you're trying to look cute for (tee hee). Either way, my 1/2 training is coming along swimmingly. I do have to admit that I'm slacking a little on the cross training but that's only because I find those machines at the gym so daggon boring! I've even loaded up my ipod with all kinds of new interesting stuff to listen too, but it doesn't matter. As soon as I get on the elliptical I immediately want to get off. Maybe I should find some other form of cross training, huh? Now there's a novel idea!

Date #2

We met at the same spot as Tuesday's run but only did a short and easy 3 miles. I was still a little stiff from last night's grueling tempo workout on the TM and I want Saturday's long run to go well. I found out that Tuesday wasn't a fluke; it was relaxed and easy and, most importantly, a lot of fun. He's silly and funny and...we're meeting for a "real" date this weekend. One where we wear normal street clothes and don't have to worry about wiping snot off our faces. Pardon me while I drift off to la-la land. I won't mind if you gag, I would if I were you. I'll shut up about him now!

In other news, I dragged my best girlfriend with me to see Spirit of the Marathon tonight and I loved it. I've been anticipating it's release for a long time so I was thrilled when it was announced that it would finally be showing, if only for one night. All 3 movie theaters that were playing it sold out so I'm glad I got tickets ahead of time. And bless my wonderful BFF for coming along to watch it with me. Another person I've long since added to my list of "Most Supportive People Ever".

The Date

I had butterflies in my stomach all day, annoying my co-workers to my slight pleasure. We agreed to meet at a popular running path, one that I am familiar with like the back of my hand. I told my mom and my close girlfriends where I was, what I was wearing and when I expected to be back...just in case. As an aside, its sort of sad that we have to think of these things but this is the world we live in I suppose. But, none of that was necessary because it actually went pretty great! As soon as we got our feet moving, we fell into a comfortable pace (well, a little fast for me, near power-walking speed for him!) and into a comfortable conversation. There was talk of books, movies, art, friends, running....all the typical safe first date topics. It was easy, and I'm not usually a person for whom conversation comes naturally. As I told one of my girlfriends later, running is something I'm very comfortable doing and feel the most like myself. To do this as a date took away all the awkward I-don't-know-what-I-should-be-doing-with-my-hands feeling I so often get on first dates.

I was relaxed and mostly un-awkward. He was funny and really cute and we're meeting again tomorrow!

Weird 48

It's been a strange weekend. Full of things happening to me that never happen to me. My life is so undramatic it's pathetic, and usually this is the way I like it, but I had some drama this weekend, all of it...well, good. I'm telling you, this kind of stuff never happens to me.

• my car broke down in the middle of rush hour traffic. While this might appear to be a bad thing, the auto mechanic told me the problem was covered under a recall. I got a brand new fuel pump installed for free, and it only took about 2 hours. This kind of thing never happens to me. Whenever I take my car in, I assume it will cost $1,000 and be in the shop for a week. That way I'm pleasantly surprised with anything less. I know, eternal optimist, right?

• I talked to this guy for the first time in about 2 years. I think I was calm and collected, but who really knows. The strange thing is that he's been on the forefront of my mind for the last week, even more so than usual. I've blogged about him and even seen him in my dreams. And then, there he was. He initiated the conversation (I never would) and I actually responded with some degree of intelligence. This never happens. I've been known to stuff creamers down my shirt or run away screaming when a boy I like says "Hello." The fact that I was able to form a complete sentence, not once but many times, means progress on my end. He liked my shoes.

• I have a date. This never happens. I never get hit on or asked out, no one ever flirts with me ever. I think I give off an unapproachable vibe anyway and I really don't think I'm much to look at so when I met this guy and he asked for my number, I wrote it down for him without much hope. But for some reason, he called the next day. A sinking pit of dread formed in my stomach as we talked. He's going to ask me out for dinner, I thought, and I'll be all awkward and embarrassed at myself and it will be a total failure and no one will ever love me and I'm going to die alone and my cat will starve so she'll eat my face and I'll be the pathetic old lady who's cat ate her face. But to my surprise he said, "Would you like to get together for a run this week?" Swoon.

I feel confident that my car will start when I want it too, I can say "Hello" to the man I've been admiring from afar for far too long without running away screaming, and I have a date. Can you believe it???

'ello laddie

I've just returned from an awesome 7.33 miler on the bike path. It started out not so great as it was FREEZING and my dad, bless his heart, has started wearing goofy hats on our long runs. This is the one he wore today:

Tell me that's not embarrassing! And there were tons of people out there. Gah! But, to his credit, he sure knows how to make long and cold runs a lot of fun. My bum foot was pretty stiff for the first mile or two but it eventually loosened up and didn't give me much trouble at all. I took Thursday and Friday off so I was pretty antsy to get out there this morning. I finished the run feeling great and ready to add on some more mileage.

As for my weight loss plateau, I've decided to take the advice of Lynn-e and start keeping a log of everything I put in my mouth. Every breadcrumb, sunflower seed and M&M counts starting this morning. I just need to get over this hump.

Plateau

I've hit The Wall. The weightloss wall, that is. I lost those annoying 20lbs pretty quickly in the months following the marathon, even with Christmas and Thanksgiving shoved in there. But now? The scale hasn't moved in about 4 weeks and I'm both running and eating well. It's extremely annoying.

So, anyone have any advice for overcoming this? I don't want to run any more miles than are on my schedule for fear of injury (bum foot) but I'm not opposed to doing more cardio if need be. I could throw in another day of weight training (doing that 2x a week now) but I have a hunch the problem and solution lies with my eating habits. I *think* I'm eating well but I have no real record or proof. How many calories should I be eating a day anyway? I rarely eat fast food or cheesy poofs or other junk that will send me to an early grave. But maybe I'm not being careful enough. I still have some excess tonnage I want to get rid of before summer. Grr!