Running and Resolutions

One of my New Years Resolutions was to start eating healthy, with the benefit of that to be some weight loss. I am happy to report that as of yesterday, I am down 10 pounds!! (Some of it was certainly just holiday pudge, but it is still 10!) Plus, I am finally below a certain number that was haunting me! I would like to lose nine more pounds.

I joined a running group over the winter and have been doing quite a few runs with them. Last week, I ran 20 miles, and this week I will have run 18 after tomorrow. I'm getting faster running with this group, which is totally amazing. I have been wanting to get faster, but I have a hard time forcing myself to run above my most comfortable speed. I am running Broad St in May, and then I think I will run this half marathon in Philly at the end of May. I am playing around with the idea of training for a marathon, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

On the school front: We had 31 parents out of 53 students come to pick up their kid's report card. That is actually a pretty good turnout. They should be announcing Renaissance Schools on Monday.

Dates: I met a guy at Monk's on Wednesday. He was nice enough, but he misrepresented himself in pictures and laughed at the service learning project my kid's want to do. It really bothered me! Plus, he lives in Conshohocken which is kind of far away. I don't think that I will go out with him again. I had another date last night. We had dinner at the Continental. Really nice guy, easy conversation. I wasn't particularly attracted or not-attracted to him. He also does not live in the city, but there was nothing that stood out that I didn't like. He does karate, which is cool. I guess I am looking for some spark that I haven't found yet.

Chemistry from the beginning is important to me, and in all of my past relationships it was something that brought us together from the beginning. (Clearly they did not work out, but still). Chemistry is more than just on the physical level though, too. There needs to be more than just a conversation going on - I'm not really sure how to put into words what I mean, but when you are talking/meeting/having dinner with someone - there is physical chemistry, but also there is chemistry in the way you interact, what types of things you talk about. You have to click. And I havent really found that with the people I've met on match.

I think that people should be with a person that makes them the best versions of themselves, and I have never found that. Of the guys I have dated, even the ones that I really liked, I have always compromised some important part of myself or changed (slightly, not drastically) something about myself. Whether it's the way someone treated me, or the amount of alcohol I drank, or safe sex ... I'm all for compromising in relationships, but if you don't help me be the best version of myself, then I shouldn't be with you. And that goes both ways. I think that if there is the physical/emotional/intellectual chemistry, then helping each other be the best they can should come naturally. It certainly isn't something you can force.

stories, snow, and beer

So I went out with the crepes guy for a second time on Tuesday. We went back to the same place, but this time to the bar upstairs, where there was a Story Slam. It is this really cool monthly story telling competition in Philly sponsored by First Person Arts: http://www.firstpersonarts.org/. For each story slam, there is a topic. This past week was Emergency. As you go in, you can put your name into a bucket if you have a story to tell. Throughout the night, they pick out ten names for audience members to tell their story. They have 5 minutes to tell a story, and it is judged by the audience members.

We got there about an hour early to get a seat, because it gets really crowded. In that time, we talked ... and I found out that he doesn't drink. at all. He doesn't care that other people drink, and he was even in a social fraternity in college - he just doesn't really like alcohol and said that he doesn't need it to have fun. Fair enough.

The stories were all really good this week. There was actually a tie, and they had to have a story off. You can watch the video on the story off here (theme: underpants). http://www.youtube.com/firstpersonarts. They were both really funny. The original stories on the topic of Emergency came from a guy who talked about going to this weird bar to play his acoustic guitar and almost having sex with a random hot girl in the bathroom, which he said never happens, and not having a condom. The girl told this story about being in this acting school in Moscow and getting really drunk and walking home in Moscow in the middle of the night. She stopped in a bank to get cash and got stuck inside the bank, the alarm went off, people were yelling at her through the speakers in Russian ... it was funny.

Anyway, the date was really good. We are going to Dave and Busters tomorrow night. I've never been, so it should be a lot of fun!

I met another guy on Thursday at Royal Tavern. Even though it was snowing, he drove from the northeast. We had a few beers, talked for 2 hours.... he was nice, and I think I'll go out with a second time to make sure that I'm not blowing him off (hello new years resolution), but I don't think I'm attracted to him.

I'm hoping to go out with the med student this week. I had a really nice time with him, and I would like to get to know him better.

Also, upped my calories this week that I was eating. Set the livestrong.com thing to "lose 1 pound a week", which used to be set at 2 pounds a week. I hadn't lost weight for the first 3 weeks in February, and I was thinking that maybe it was because I wasn't eating enough or something. So I upped the calories I ate and I lost a pound!! I also went to the gym 6 times. On Friday, I went twice. I went to 3 yoga classes. Go me. (I also had 2 snow days).

Compliment

Today, someone at school that I usually don't talk to said, "You're losing weight! You look good!"

I was happy to respond, "Actually, I have lost about 7 pounds. Thanks!"

I don't go fishing for compliments or anything, but it's nice when people notice!

On the Wagon - Off the Wagon

On the Wagon: I'm happy to report that I am still on the healthy eating - New Years Resolution wagon. This was the end of week 2 at my school's Biggest Loser. I lost 2 pounds last week and 2 pounds this week! I didn't do as well this week as last, but I'm glad to see that I was still able to make decent choices (even with going out to dinner, etc). I have lost 7 pounds in the month of January! (At least 3 of the those pounds were gained over the holidays, though). I'm currently eating chips and cheese. (haha, the irony. or is it irony? I've always been confused about that one.)

Off the Wagon: I am not doing as well this past week with my budget. I am going away this weekend to visit a friend in DC and have given myself $100 to spend this weekend, which should be more than I need - hopefully. I'll stick to that and when I get paid next week - I'm back to being hard core. I'm still spending less than I had been previously, though.

Match: Meeting someone new tonight, E. Heard from J finally on Thursday. Vague email, but I guess if he wasn't at all interested - he wouldn't have emailed. We shall see.

Weekend: I am hoping to have some interesting stories to report on from my weekend. I'm taking Greyhound to DC, because Amtrak is too expensive (like 3 times as expensive). We are going to Medieval Times, because ..... well, because my friend wants to go I guess. It should be fun, though. I'm leaving on the 8:00 bus so that I don't get stuck in as much traffic. Meeting the guy before at 5:30.

Biggest Loser

In keeping with my New Years resolutions, my school is having a biggest loser contest, and I am participating. I had been weighing myself at the gym on Mondays, but since the weigh in for the Biggest Loser is at school on Fridays, I'm going to use those weigh ins instead. It's a better time anyway, I think - since over the weekend I'm not as stringent as I am during the week. I wear jeans every Friday, so granted - they are heavier than the work out capris I would have on at the gym, but I'm focusing on the difference in weight, so as long as I'm wearing the same thing - it will be fine. Last Friday we had our first official "weigh in." One of the school police officers weighs us in the nurse's office. Yesterday was the end of the first week, and I lost 2 pounds! I had the biggest weight loss of the ladies for week 1! The final day is the last day of school. I would like to lose about 10-15 more pounds, I think. I'm down 5 pounds from Jan 1st, but about 4 of those pounds were holiday gain, so I think losing 14 more pounds from what I'm at now is my goal. We will see though. In the end, it's only a number. I'm using livestrong.com to track what I eat, and it really helps me keep myself in check. I'm not perfect everyday, and I don't track on Saturdays - but it definitely helps.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make New Year's Resolutions - and surprisingly, I usually keep them.


In 2007, I wanted to drink more water (check) and go the gym 3 times a week (check).

For 2008, I wanted to start going to the gym 4 times a week (check - still go 4 times most weeks), strength training 2 times a week (sometimes...), and eating healthy. Which, considering how I was eating, my diet did improve a lot in 2008.

In 2009, I said that I wanted to run the Broad St Run in May (check), to go to yoga once a week (check), to go to Italy for 4 to 6 weeks and study Italian (check), and to eat healthy and not backslide on the weekends (ok - not so much). 75% is not bad if I do say so myself.



So 2010 - I'm being pretty ambitious.

1. Seriously get on the healthy eating wagon. I'm going to keep track of what I'm eating online for at least January and February. After that, I will access whether or not I need to still keep track online. I am aiming for one cheat meal a week. (I'm hoping that the effect of this will be to lose some weight.)

2. My finances: My credit card bills will be paid off by the end of 2010. To do this - I will teach summer school (blek) and put myself on a weekly budget. I'm thinking $60 a week in cash for spending money plus $30-$40 a week for groceries.

3. My sister says that I brush guys off too easily. So, I'm going to join match.com and actually put myself out there and try not to brush people off. We'll see how this goes....

4. Document my adventures in this blog.