A 9 mile run

Apparently Rob’s brother in Massachusetts reads my blog to find out if Rob is exercising, so this entry is for you, Michael.

Yes, we’re running. We did six miles Friday night, and then turned around and did nine Sunday morning. Nine. Consecutively, even. Our new plan is to do one long, slow run every weekend.

We ran with our friend Nina down the creek trail. Originally the plan was to do eight, but when we got to the 3.5 mile marker (it’s a half mile from my house to the trail, so the 3.5 marker = 4 miles), I said, “Let’s go to the 4 mile marker!” As though I weren’t the member of the trio who wouldn’t be hurt the most by doing extra miles. (Rob = thin, Nina = 30 years old.) But we managed to do it, and I even managed to (mostly) keep up with the others. I continually ask Rob to check his heart-rate monitor to make sure he’s getting a workout, because a pace that had him working not too long ago has him reading the newspaper as he runs now.

I really like running. Considering I’m not a natural runner or any sort of athlete, it’s kind of funny that I enjoy it so much. I like the way my body feels after I’ve done several miles: sore, but as though I’ve accomplished something. I’m not sure I’ve ever had the runner’s high, but I definitely feel better after running (though I’m also tired afterward too).

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I kept telling Rob, “Yeah, I’m going to start writing down what I eat,” but I never did. I’d just “remember.” Which of course I never did. It’s really easy to forget late in the evening what you had for breakfast.

When I did Weight Watchers and had my little book to write food down in, I did lose weight. But I couldn’t keep doing WW, because it was just too cultish for my tastes. I’m just not a joiner on these things. I don’t feel as though I’m part of a club. I feel as though I’m paying someone $10 a week to weigh myself.

So Rob recommended Diet Diary by Calorie King to me for my Palm, because I take my Palm with me everywhere and it has quite a collection of foods in it, including a whole bunch of fast-food and chain restaurants. (The calorie counts for Cold Stone Creamery ice cream and mix-ins: terrifying.) You also can enter in your exercise for the day, which adds greatly to the calories you are allowed for the day. (Which is as big an incentive as I’ve ever seen for keeping up with my exercise program, let me tell you.) So far I have rediscovered the best side effect of writing everything down: you eat way, way less when you know you’re going to write it down. You also remember that French toast you had for breakfast (weekends only).