Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday afternoon, I was scheduled for intervals, but I left work so early, I knew the heat was going to do me in if I ran right then.  So...I went shopping to kill time.

Shopping and I have a love/hate relationship.  More like hate/hate, actually.  I'm not one of those people who love to go. It feels way more like a chore to me, and always has...maybe because I have such a weird body type and it's so hard to find stuff that fits right.  As a super heavy person, it just complicates things to be short waisted and super-long legged.  They just don't make stuff to fit me, and that's the truth.  Generally, when I find something that fits, I will wear it until it literally falls apart on me, and even then I'll patch it for as long as I can.

When I started losing the weight back in January, it took a couple of months to start really being able to tell the difference in my clothes.  But when I could finally start to tell, it was more that my clothes were actually starting to fit correctly again, instead of being so distended it looked like they were painted on. I decided then that I was not going to buy more clothes until these were practically falling off of me, since whatever I bought would just be transitional clothing anyway, and I'd have to replace it in a couple of months after that.  When my weight is in the right range, I will not mind spending money for good clothing, but right now, it just seems like such a waste (even though I know mama's gotta have clothes at any size).

Last week, I felt so sloppy.  Like I was going to be walking down the hall and lose my pants, sloppy.  I could hold out the seams on both sides and feel like a good stiff breeze would pick me up like the Flying Nun. The material no longer touched my skin anywhere but my waist, so I knew that it was time. With so much time to kill, Friday seemed like the perfect time.

It took a trip to four different stores before I was able to find anything, but I wound up with three new pairs of pants, a tank top and an overblouse.  And the best thing?  The size.

Here comes the first paradigm shift of my journey...the stuff the girl in the mirror doesn't/can't relate to:

I am now in a size 16. 

Holy God. Down four sizes from a size 24. I had no idea I had lost that much. I knew it was significant, just not that significant.  I made sure that the stuff I bought was stretchy enough or was slightly snug so that it would take me as far as possible, and I doubt very much that I will be buying much more for a while...but I think I am still in shock over this amazing NSV.

By the time I was done, the heat of the day had disbursed enough for me to run without melting into the pavement.  The whole way, I felt like I was struggling mightily....my legs were water, my energy nonexistant.  But my splits told a different story:

 Not sure why these times are slightly different than when I first ran them, but on Friday, my fastest interval registered at 10:00 even (now it's showing as 10:03).

OMG...a ten minute pace.

In my whole life, I've never hit a ten minute pace, not even for a minute (which is all this was).  I never even thought it was possible for me to run that fast...although I'm not sure why I thought that.  Maybe because it seemed so far out of my reach..?  I've always been such a turtle, I guess I thought I always would be.  And yet...here I am, running a ten minute interval.  Not only one, but several were in the ten minute range.  And all the rest were in the elevens.

I sat in my car and bawled.  And then I called Keith, who immediately freaked out, thinking that something was wrong, that I had injured myself.  It took me a minute to calm down enough to explain why I was crying, but then we both laughed our heads off...in an excited, celebratory way.  It was a really, really good feeling.

Saturday was supposed to be my Mother's Day, so we headed to Bristol for the day, stopped for lunch at a nice little Greek restaurant we're both fond of (greek salads...yum!), then took the boys to the park for a nice long walk beside the river, and a swim.  They love swimming, and since we don't really have any open water around the house (yet!), it's a real treat for them when they get to ride anywhere, but especially when it involves a swim. It also allowed me to get in a bonus mile-long walk, so I was pretty happy about that.

Once they let us know they were done swimming, we headed back to the house and dropped them off before heading to one of my favorite restaurants up here...a seasonal place called the Captain's Table, which sits directly on Lake Watauga.  The view is phenomenal, and the food is really good.  We lingered over wine (which I had earned enough extra calories for, thanks to my impromptu walk), and enjoyed the sunset over the water before heading back to the house.

Sunday morning was another run day, this time a 2 1/2 miler, and because I had lots I wanted/needed to do around the house, I decided to get up early to get a good jump on the day's heat (and traffic).  I felt pretty good for most of the duration, but my knee felt twingy toward the end, so I eased up a bit on the backstretch.  Still...I had a respectable 14:45 pace for the run portion, and I can see it inching its way faster with every run.  I love measurable progress!

Unfortunately for me, by the time I got home, my knee was screaming, and I was fighting an unexplained nausea for the rest of the day, so I basically just took it easy and laid on the couch, catching up on Netflix.  I needed the rest, so it didn't hurt me any. 

This week is gonna be a tough one.  Lots of overtime, and runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  I will make it, no worries.  I'm feeling decidedly better this morning, my knee feels solid again, and I had a lovely sunrise over the mountains in my rearview to enjoy on my way to work.  Just wish I'd been heading into instead of away from.  Oh well, all good things in time, I suppose.

How was your weekend?  Do anything fun?  How did you celebrate Mother's Day...or did you?  What are your plans for the week?