Number of times I've stress eaten: I don't know. Today, like 3.
Number of times eating has reduced stress: Um...I can't actually think of a time.

This system is clearly working for me.

I recently decided that I needed a pair of running/biking/hiking sunglasses. I have two other pairs of sunglasses. One of them my mom paid a ridiculous amount of money on (at least for my family for sunglasses) when I was like 13. I still have them. Last time I went back to my hometown to see my mom she greeted me with, "Where are those nice sunglasses I bought you?" as if she had just recently purchased them for me and was concerned about getting her money worth/offended I wasn't wearing her gift. They're still in super good condition. Thing is, they were stylish when I was 13 (I affectionately call them my 90210 glasses). My other pair is slightly more hip, but they hurt my face after about an hour. Neither seem sporty. Enter the new member of my collection:
I ended up ordering them from L.L. Bean. I tried on a bunch of pairs in town. My husband seemed to think most of them looked crooked. I'm beginning to think my face must just be lopsided. Point is, I wouldn't normally order sunglasses online, but I didn't think they could be any worse than the stuff I was finding locally. I hope they don't end up pinching weird.

Today I set out to run 3 miles. Cut to about 10 minutes in when this internal debate started:

Lazy Jlou - I want to be done.
Jlou That Likes Not Having Belly Fat - What? But you just started!
LJ - I still want to be done. Maybe I'll quit early today.
JTLNHBF - But you quit early yesterday!
LJ - I know. *sigh*
JTLNHBF - What's wrong? Are you muscles tired?
LJ - No.
JTLNHBF - And your heart?
LJ - It's fine too.
JTLNHBF - Asthma problems?
LJ - Well, no.
JTLNHBF - So what's the problem here?!?!
LJ - I just don't feel like it. I'd rather be laying!
JTLNHBF - HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO RUN A MARATHON IF YOU WANT TO QUIT LESS THAN A MILE INTO YOUR RUN EVERY DAY?!?!?!
LJ - I DON'T KNOW!!! I HAVEN'T WORKED THAT OUT YET!!! STOP YELLING AT ME!!!
JTLNHBF - You say you want to be done?
LJ - Yeah.
JTLNHBF - Well, then I guess you'd better run faster!

So I did. That's what we call win-win, my friends.

I followed up my cookies with a long (for me) run of 6 miles. My reasons were fourfold:
1. I felt a smidgen guilty about the cookies. Well, the cookies and the Cadbury Creme egg I ate while waiting for the cookies to bake. Yes the egg was sort of old. And yes the middle was sort of hard. Did that stop me from eating it? Not a chance. When the back of my pantry produces candy, I don't choose to be picky.
2. I normally do my weekly long run on Sundays, but I skipped it this Sunday because my knee felt a little sore, and I saw no reason to push it.
3. I wanted to watch this weeks Gossip Girl. Running while I watch GG insures that my husband will not see me watch it. Not that he doesn't know that I have the television viewing habits of a 15 year old. He does. It's just that if he sees me watching GG then I have to watch him roll his eyes at me. Doing a longer run enabled me to get in all of a GG and part of One Tree Hill. Score!
4. I wanted some actual running to blog about. I feel like I've been hurting my athletic cred with all this talk of junk food. Who are I kidding? I had none to begin with.

Anyway, I ran 6 miles which is like a 2nd place distance p.r. for me, but I did it at a faster pace than I normally do. So not too shabby, I don't think.

Monday afternoon I had what I thought at the time was a kickass idea to cut down on my artificial sweetener intake. I had a long list of excellent reasons to do so. Here we are now, Wednesday at 3:48 PM, and I can't remember any of them. If my goal was to cut out artificial sweeteners so I could replace them with honest-to-goodness sugar, then mission accomplished!!!

Sorry to run off, but my cookies are done.

Nike Perfect Fit Women's Capri Pants

I have found what I can only describe as the world's most perfect running pants. If capri's can technically be regarded as pants. I think they look more like really long shorts. And while I'm on the topic, I have yet to find a suitable pair of full length athletic pants to love. When they get all bunched up around my ankles and don't stay over the backs of my shoes it makes me want to ditch them and run in my underwear. Seriously! Back to my point, the Perfect Fit's are just that, perfect! They are light, comfortable, and make me 'really, really ridiculously good looking.' They are a tad spendy (I paid $54) but well worth it.

My next big running related purchase will be a watch. That is, as soon as I figure out which one is best (best AND cutest would be ideal). I've heard conflicting opinions regarding water resistance, heart rate monitor options, even band material. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

This feels kind of lame, but I'm going to admit it anyway: I hrt my Tony Little Gazelle. This is despite the fact that it brings to the surface a number of insecurities
1. Tony Little has less body hair than I do.
2. Tony Little has more head hair than I do.
3. In high school, this hot girl with modeling experience told me she was jealous of my brother's legs. My brother's legs were (and are) decidedly more shapely than my own.

Did that last one feel a little out of place to you? It did to me, but perhaps I can explain. I run and run and run and run (ok, maybe I don't run that much, but I run a reasonable amount, I think) yet my legs never really feel worked out - even if I do hills. Yesterday, I did a fraction of the time on my Gazelle. Today, I wake up not from the alarm but from my legs aching as I roll over in bed. So even though it reeks of infomercials we've all seen too many times, I think I'm going to integrate it into my workouts some more.

Since the Maple Bar Diet doesn't work so well

I'm considering a return to the Circus Peanut Diet. Allow me to explain. Circus peanuts are a.) super sweet and b.) super gross. Once upon a time, I found that I could eat half a circus peanut when I got a hankering for some candy. Enter the magic. Half a peanut was more than enough to quench my need for sugar yet disgusting enough to prevent me from eating the whole bag (hell, I couldn't even stomach the thought of the other half). Pretty neat, huh? But here's the problem - who wants to buy a bag of disgusto circus peanuts when you have so many other options in the candy aisle? Not this girl! And that's why the circus peanut diet only lasted through one bag (said bag was purchased before I had ever tried one and therefore I didn't realize what I was getting into taste-wise). Yet, for that one bag I found it to be highly effective. Lately, I've felt like a slave to the sweets. Maybe it's time for me to suck it up and buy another bag.

Clearly, my priorities are in order

I had great plans to go on a run today during lunch.  I guess my plans weren't specific enough as I did find myself going on a run - it just turned out to be a donut run.  Doh!

Treadmill Bloomsday 2008

This year I was unable/unwilling to venture to Spokane for Bloomsday. Instead, I started hatching a plan for Treadmill Bloomsday 2008.

Plan A - Look online for Bloomsday treadmill info. Maybe somebody has marked where the hills are or something and I can follow along. After all, didn't some astronaut do that from space with the NYC Marathon or Boston Marathon or something?
Plan A problem - If anybody has anything like this, I sure couldn't find it.

Plan B - I think Doomsday Hill is somewhere around the mile 5 marker. I'll just forget about the other hills and add an incline for a while when I get to 5 miles.
Plan B problem - Screw Doomsday Hill. I'm not getting an ugly t-shirt for this venture. Level will be fine.

Plan C- Just run for 12K.
So that's what I did. But wait! Treadmill Bloomsday was more than me just running 7.5ish miles. I also made the follow modifications to my normal treadmill routine.
1. I opened the window for fresh air.
2. I pretended people were cheering for me.
3. I drank water only at "water stations" (roughly every mile or so).
4. At the end, I raised my arms up victoriously. In my head, somebody was calling, "YOU'RE ALL WINNERS"

Guess what?! I finished 1st!!

I watched "Final Destination" last night.

Today, this closet door fell right where I had been kneeling trying to align my scanner literally 2 seconds prior.

Coincidence?

Bloomsday Placement: 27,335 out of 42,697

To summarize:

I got some free stuff: I fell in love with an energy drink called FRS. It tastes like fruit juice, is non-carbonated and only contains 25 calories. (I only added the calorie count so I wouldn't feel embarrassed that I drank 2). I also got the coveted Bloomsday shirt. I heard a lot of people say that they only do this particular marathon for the shirt. Not sure why, these shirts are a little on the cheesy side and the designers have yet to produce one I'd be willing to wear in public.

The other participants were entertaining. The rule is simple: runners to the left and walkers to the right. How many people followed that rule, you ask? One. Me. Apart from that frustration, I did enjoy seeing the numerous people who thought jeans were proper running attire. I found it a little difficult, however, to consider them to be serious runners. I also enjoyed the traffic jams/ absolute hysterics that occured at each water station. God forbid you grab a cup that someone else was eyeing!

All in all, it wasn't a bad little marathon. Next year, I'm aiming for a better placement. Somewhere between 1-15,000.

Bloomsday 2008

I've been thinking about what I should be eating over the next couple of days to prepare for my first 12K on Sunday (ok, not first time completing, just first time running a majority of the course). All that comes to mind is The Office episode where Michael organized a 5K Fun Run because he thought Meredith had rabies. He 'carb loaded' on fettucine alfredo minutes before the race, refused any water, and threw up at the finish line. Sounds like a plan...

For a long time I refused to run anywhere where people might see me.  I feel like a lot of people have goofy running styles.  I'm not sure if I'm one of those people, but I certainly didn't want to be advertising it if I was.  I've recently decided to balls up and try running outside.  Today, shortly after I was done with my run, I saw a lady running on the same trail I was just on.  She's one of those goofy runners I'm talking about.  For a split moment, I actually considered the possibility that she had seen me running earlier and was now getting a kick out of herself by doing a crazy running impersonation of me.  Then I got over myself.