What's so special about today?

February 14th.

A day of first dates, marriage proposals, wedding anniversaries, births, deaths, and a day to remember to love your significant other.

Wait. Whoah. Slow your roll there...

Isn't that every day? Don't those things happen every day of the week? What makes the 14th of February so special??? I could go into the history of Valentine's day, the Valentines Day Massacre, Hallmark, Hershey's, Whitman's Samplers... But I won't. I've found my very own reason that February 14th is special.

Today, Rusty and I started the Couch to 5k Running plan. Basically it takes you from... wait for it...

The couch....

to...

Running a 5k!

I'll let that one sink in for a second.

It's not a fast process, and if you find it too hard, you repeat the week that gave you trouble. Also, its a free program. You don't have to sign up, you don't have to pay money, you just have to be able to read, be able to run, and be determined.

Granted at this point, I should feel like crap, right?. My legs hurt, my lungs are a little constricted, but all in all, I'm OK. It's amazing to me that I didn't even need my inhaler. I alternated 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes, following a 5 minute warm-up walk. I'm still ALIVE! We're both still alive! (yes, this is an accomplishment)

So now, we're looking for 5k's in the May timeframe to solidify the agreement. Here's hoping we can find something close that falls on a weekend that suits. Talk about a special day to make a special agreement!

But hear this, followers and creepers:

WE WILL do this, WE WILL finish this, and WE WILL be held accountable!!!

MAN that sounds GOOD!

Now, I'm off to bed. That is, as long as there are no more fire sirens... the whiskers have taken a liking to 'singing' along with them (read: yowwwwwlinnnng)

GOOD NIGHT! :D

Baba Yetu and The Smoothie Song

Anyone else out there have a battle song?? You know, the motivational beat with the lyrics that just make you want to take down anything in the way of achieving your goals??

I start with this:

Baba Yetu... If you'd like the translation, it's the Lords Prayer in Swahili.

And I follow with this:

Mmm... Smoothies...

Anyway...

I have a list of these psych up battle songs, and most of them make it onto my Gym playlist. Thank goodness for that, because tonight it was war! My inner Jillian Michaels against my inner Queen Latifah. Now that's a match-up that gets real ugly, real fast.

We got to the gym tonight and I took a second to read a sign on the wall that reads:

We're not here to kiss your butt, but to kick it if that's what you need.

Oh yeah.

That is what I need. I pushed through a mile on the treadmill and then did the unthinkable, 7 miles on a recumbent bike. My butt was numb. My thighs were rocks, and I felt...... GREAT. What an odd situation... I go in not wanting to work out, feeling like poo. Blare a little fight music, turn up the notch on the motivation and I come out feeling 110%.

If this kind of butt kicking is going to make me feel that good, I want more. Plain and simple.

PS....

I'm sorely disappointed with Ms. Aguilera.

PPS...

Bless you, Peppers. LOL

Tossing my cookies? I think not!

I really need to make this Blog more of a daily thing.

I generated quite a buzz on my facebook page last night, when I questioned my decision to buy cookies. Now, we all know that the hubby and I are on a quest to lose weight. Another thing we all know about, is our budget. I spent $2 on a pack of chocolate chip cookies. Considering my options, I got the most for my money, and was pleased with my purchase. What I didn't expect is how much I wanted those cookies because....drumroll...

They were there, looking at me.

I think, just maybe, the cookies are good friends with that can of soup from the other day. This time I yeilded... I had three chocolate chip cookies, knowing that a 'full serving' is five. I felt pleased with my decision to have less than a serving...pleased, until I went back to my computer and saw 17 notifications. All of them were friends commenting about what I should do with the cookies that I bought and were now staring at me. Half of you wanted me to toss my cookies! (ha ha ha) Seriously? I just spent $2 on them to throw them away? I THINK NOT! I may as well have eaten the $2. Given it to the whiskers to play with. Flushed it down the drain. Wiped my... um... tears? with it. Why in the world should I throw the cookies away?

Then, it dawned on me. How many times to people buy something as a reward, and then end up eating the whole package because they've starved themselves on a diet? Its a classic situation! I'm going to watch what I eat. No snacks, no cookies, no sweets. If you seriously decide to go that route with your diet, you're bound to crash and burn, and yes, eat a whole package of cookies. Its a classic situation, and I know that my friends were just looking out for me. But I'm ok, really. If I ration the cookies I'll get more over the course of the next week or so, and I'm ok with that.

(I should add that a year ago, those cookies would have been gone in the car on the way home. But I won't.)

So, thank you, friends for looking out for me, and thank you other friends that told me to just eat them. I love you all, equally.