Thursday night

Dread is a horrible emotion. I dread running, but when I go I always feel so much better. Tonight I dreaded going to my tennis clinic, but I had to go because I already confirmed my availabilty and was committed, let alone the fact that I will be charged either way. So, I went and I had fun. I learned a few things and I played pretty well. Most importantly, I confronted this fear that I had about the tennis director not liking me. I don't know him well and have never had lessons from him, so now that I have, I feel better. These clinics are such a great opportunity to learn from a professional! Plus, I burned over 500 calories!

Meet and Greet

I'm planning an Extra Pounds Blogger Meet & Greet. Who wants to come? How does October sound? Is that enough time for everyone to lose some weight, save some money, and get on a plane to San Francisco????? October is the best time of year here! AndreaN is gonna be here for the Nike marathon, me and Stacey are here....who else is in? If not SF in October, then where and when? Memphis in December? Paris in the Spring? London in the Fall? We sure are scattered all over the freakin' place, aren't we?!

Heavenly

My husband took my daughters away for a few days, so I've had my house to myself since Sunday. They will be home in a couple of hours. Its been so wonderful! I miss them very much, but its just so nice to have all of this peace and quiet. I've been very busy and productive, but I've been relaxing and trying to stay off the computer. My house is sparkling clean! I've washed every last stitch of laundry right down to the shower curtains & hamper liners. The girls have clean linens, the cats have clean beds, and everything is folded and put away. A clean house makes for a very happy Shelley. It will be nice to have them back home.

Yesterday I took the dogs for a very short run, about half a mile. I was in a hurry....we usually walk it, so they were confused, but they had fun. Then I came home and did the core session of my Jackie Warner DVD and OMG was I dying. I was sweating, too! I barely even sweat when I run! I never get to do my tapes because someone is always home to laugh at me. I do better without an audience. My abs are seriously killing me today.

Last night I went to an end of season party at my tennis captains house. I was really dreading it because of some of the drama going on, but it was fun to socialize with the ladies off the court. I wore my cute new halter top.

I wasn't very productive today, but I did a few chores, went to the grocery store, and sat outside with the dogs, the turtle, and a magazine. The only exercise I got was vacuuming & mopping, and I worked up a good sweat, too! Today is a scheduled day off anyway, so I'm ok with it. Tomorrow, I run. I must!

Ok, I'm going to sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy my last 2 hours of freedom! Think I'll watch a movie. In my clean house.

Friday Yay!

I just got back from playing tennis with the girls. I am playing pretty well...I think the running really helps with my endurance. We played doubles for an hour and then when 2 of the girls had to leave, we played singles for another 40 minutes until my husbands clinic ended. I burned 700 calories! Yay! I'll have to run tomorrow instead of today since I forgot about tennis. It feels so good to get my workout out of the way. Its fun now that we are both getting to know more people, too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Must be my lucky day!

I got some cheap thrills today! I was walking my dogs this afternoon and 2 handsome men rode by on their bikes....with no shirts on! I stared quite happily and I'm sure they noticed the smile on my face! Then as we continue on and around the corner, I see a handsome young man running in front of me...with no shirt on! I was passing a tennis court and figured he was just out chasing a ball, and sure enough he came running back toward me and back onto the court. I swear, I was this close to saying "this must be my lucky day! 3 shirtless men!" Good thing, though, because I would have jinxed it. On the last leg of my run, I saw yet another shirtless handsome man riding his bike. 4. Nice.

Yes, I did mention that I did in fact run today.  I was supposed to go yesterday, but I felt like crap and blew it off for today. I almost blew it off again today, but I managed to find the mojo. My pace was better than Monday: 10:18. It was a much easier run, too, even though it was a bit windy.

Gettinfit asked me about my pets. I have 7 of them:

1. Chuckie, male cat, will turn 12 next month.
2. Hayley, female Border Collie dog, 9
3. Cinnamon, male cat, 8
4. Celeste, female cat, 8
5. Carly, female cat, 6
6. Madison, female Pug dog, will turn 3 next month!
7. Baby, female California Desert Tortoise, 2

Yep, Shelley is a crazy cat/dog lady.

Tom's a bitch

Tom finally arrived this morning--2 days late!! And with cramps. I'm supposed to run today. My Running for Women book tells me that today is the best day of the month to run!! My body does not agree, in fact, I'm going to go take some Pamprin!

My Little Dipper arrived just now! Yay! I'm going to make this dip!

I'm also going to try to make my own dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with a rice mixture) later on. All the ones I seem to find are sooooo oily. Yuck. I grow grapes, and therefore have my own grape leaves, so why not? They are so yummy and low cal. I'm not sure if I'll use bulgar or brown rice...hmmm.

Anyway, I gotta run. I need to find my cat. He has a vet appt. He probably overheard me and is hiding!! LOL

Tennis

I played tennis for 2 hours this morning. It was our first practice of the new season and I played pretty well. I'm playing a game of doubles on Friday, too.

So, since I played tennis, I will be skipping swimming & weights today. Thats ok, as long as I exercised, I'm mucho bueno! Oh, and my thighs are sore from running yesterday...but in a good way. I'm 2 for 2 this week.

DH has tennis tonight, so he will be home late. I'm going to make my Southern Fried Chicken Salad. I called it Southwestern the other day. Wrong. Its so good. I had to re-create the recipe from The Cheesecake Factory since they took it off the menu. I just toss the following ingredients together:

• Chicken tenders breaded and fried (sorry) in olive oil
• Romaine lettuce
• Red onion, thinly sliced
• Corn kernels
• Cucumber, thinly sliced,
• Pecan pieces
• Ranch dressing

Yum!!

I went, I went!!

And boy was it HARD!!!! I wanted to stop so many times. I was thinking of cutting it short after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, etc!! But I drudged on and completed 2.02 miles. My pace was terrible at 10:45. But what did I expect?? Oh, man, I was dying. I vow to never, ever let that much time go between runs ever again. More than 3 days is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm lucky my knees held up....or at least so far. Sometimes they start aching a couple hours after a run. I should ice them just in case.

I did it!! I did it!!

I'm going, I'm going!

Ok, I'm all geared up for my first run in 13 days. I almost talked myself out of it, but I've been following my food plan, so I figured I might as well go ahead and follow the exercise plan, too. I'm taking the dogs for a quick walk then I'm going to run to the fire station & back.

Upcoming plans for the week

I am so tired of not exercising. I guess I hit rock bottom today because I'm going stir crazy. I thought about it all day yesterday and decided that Monday is going to be the day that I will get back on track. I figured 2 blog posts wasn't enough for today and decided what the heck? Its my blog, I can write as many posts as I want! LOL

Shelley's Plan for the week of July 14-20:

Exercise:

• Monday-run 2 miles
• Tuesday-weights & swimming
• Wednesday-run 2 miles
• Thursday-weights & swimming
• Friday-run 2 miles
• Saturday-run 3 miles
• Sunday-rest
• I have a goal to use Wii Fit at least once this week and also to do my Jackie Warner Work Out DVD

Breakfast, Lunch, & Snacks: (all of which I currently have on hand...so no excuses! No fast food!)

Monday:

• B: Oatmeal, Strawberries
• S: Protein Shake ( I have a whole box of packets and I always forget about them!!!)
• L: WW wrap with veggies & 3 bean salad
• S: carrots & hummus (which I have the ingredients to make)

Tuesday:

• B: Omelet w/ sauteed spinach (I might even try it with only 1 yolk & 2 whites....I'm "afraid" of egg white only omelettes, so its a compromise)
• S: Protein Shake
• L: HM Lentil soup w/ low sodium vegetable broth (can you tell I'm trying to cut back on meat?)
• S: Strawberries

Wednesday:

• B: Oatmeal, Blueberries (trying to learn to love oatmeal)
• S: Yogurt
• L: Double Cheeseburger with an egg between each patty and a donut as the bun (just kidding!! But I read that somewhere the other day!!!! Ewww!! Gross!!) No, how about a scoop of tuna salad over a bed of lettuce?
• S: Celery & HM hummus

I'll need to go to the store by then, so Thursday & Friday are TBD.

 And I already wrote my dinners. I'm not worried about dinner. I always eat dinner. It's during the day that is always hard for me. I always want something that we don't have and so I either end up going to Subway (or taco bell ) or skipping meals all together. So, thats why I really need to work on having a food plan!!!!!

And of course, starting tomorrow I will start using CalorieKing again. To be honest, I have not been doing a single thing to try to lose weight in recent weeks. Well, at least I've not gained...or at least as far as I know. I haven't weighed myself since Monday, I think.

When I'm not eating or exercising, I really need to be working on home projects. My calendar is clear all week, so, theres no time like the present.

I'll stop now. I have to go eat dinner anyway. I'm so starving!!!!

***edited to add*** Oh, shit. I am so dumb! I just weighed myself. Am I trying to make myself feel worse??? 140!!!! Course, that is after breakfast, lunch, several snacks, tons of water, and a diet coke. Yes, only ONE today!