Getting Better

We went out again last night for a jog. This time I was able to go the enitre three miles again without stopping. I was so happy about that. It was still a lot harder and we jogged slower than before but at least I can do it again. I wanted to go out on Sunday but my whole body was just way too sore to be able to do it. I had to rest. We plan to go out again tonight. We might do the hill tonight to try to build our leg strength back up. I'm not sure yet. I am so glad that my hubby got the pool this year. It is wonderful to get back from a jog all hot and sweaty and jump in the pool. What a reward!!!
Yesterday I ate about 7 bananas. That is all I really wanted. I cut them up and mixed in some agave, macadamia nut butter and raw cocao and it was sucha treat. Yum!

It's been awhile

Hello!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged. If anyone is actually reading this (which I very often doubt) I am very sorry. So much has happened. I will do a quick recap.
#1 We did our very first 5K on June 14th. It was suppossed to be on July 4th but we found one sonner and since we were ready for it we decided to go for it. It was so much fun and such an amazing sense of accomplishment to be able to jog the whole way, and not be the last ones to cross the finish line!!! That was cool. I finished in 36:30 and my big helper finished in 34:58. Not bad!
#2 Two days after the run my hubby left for a 2 week business trip. We can not go out jogging when he is gone. It was so hard.
#3 Then my computer went out and we didn't have any internet service. Or phone. For about 1 week. What a pain that was.
#4 I ended up eating some SAD food, was not able to jog and went on a downward spiral. It was a mess and I am just now coming out of it. Not being able to jog made it harder for me to stay raw. Jogging really was a motivating factor for me because I knew that if I didn't eat raw, jogging would be harder. I loved the feeling that I had when I went out jogging, strong and capable, and I knew that raw helped to that end.
#5 So today I got back on track with eating raw. I also went for a jog after 4 weeks of not jogging and 3 weeks of binging on SAD. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck. I did not feel strong and capable. I felt heavy, lathargic, fat, and exhausted. My whole body ached and I could only jog for 1 mile before I had to stop and walk. All said, I think I jogged a total of 2 miles or so and walked (gasping for breath and wishing that I were back home) for the remaining mile. It was so discouraging to have come from doing so well to this. I almost cried. Ugg! Our next 5K is on July 26th. We signed up for three runs this summer and I want to do another one at the end of August as well. I am glad that I have already paid to do this next 5K or my downward spiral would continue. So anyways I am pressing on. I hope to be able to jog the full three miles again before the 5K in two weeks.
On an interesting side note, my little helper bounced back to jogging much easier than I did today. She jogged the whole way, albeit much slower than before. She is not raw. I think that my problem was compounded by the fact that not only had I stopped jogging for 4 weeks but I stopped eating raw. So my body was like "What are you DOING??!!" I felt like I was back in high school being forced to do timed runs and failing miserably while feeling like a total failure. It was really awful. I know that eating raw helps me to meet my goals of wanting to be strong and be able to one day run in a marathon. I honestly don't kow how ANYONE can run on SAD. I can't. So, if I want to run, and I do, then I have to eat raw. There is no other way!
I will post more on our progress later.

Sorry for the Absence

Everything is going great here with eating raw and jogging. I have learned how important it is to have a partner to go out jogging with. One day I went out without my big helper and boy was it harder. Having her with me helps so much it is just amazing. We really encourage and push each other to try harder and do our best. The other day I mapped out a four mile course to try jogging and on Saturday night we set out to do our longest jog to date. The goal was to jog the entire 4 miles without stopping. As we came to the end of 2 miles and tured around I began to question my sanity. What was I thinking? I talked myself into keeping it up through three miles since I knew that I could do at least that much. As soon as we turned the corner which marked the completion of three miles and one left to go my legs all of the sudden got so heavy. It was like they were saying "hold up there, we did three miles, that's it, I'm done!" I think our bodies get accustomed to what we ask of them and don't want to do any more. We both pushed through that last mile and were very happy to have jogged for 4 miles without stopping. I want to try to do that more often if possible and keep upping the ante, so to speak, to go further and jog faster. June is going to be tough because my husband will be traveling a lot on business so I won't be able to go out to jog. We are going to have to take turns onthe treadmill which I do not like because it sort of skips and it's just not nearly as nice jogging on a treadmill in the basement as jogging on our lovely raod in the fresh air. I've got to figure something out though. I don't want to lose what we have accomplished.
Eating has been great. I am mostly enjoying fruits and salads and smoothies. Geting fresh greens from the CSA has been delightful and yummy. I love this time of year when everything comes alive and the weather is warmer. I am still anxiously awaiting June when the delicious local strawberries will be ready to pick. Yumm! They are so good! I have lost a total of 26.5 pounds in the 6 weeks since recommiting myself to raw foods and taking up jogging. I am very excited about that and looking forward to being able to fit into some more of my clothes in the next month or two.

Oops I did it again!

..............jogged the whole three miles that is! Woooohooooooooooooo!!!! Iam just so thrilled about this. It felt so good to be able to jog the whole way without stopping again. We we even able to pick up our speed a bit, it didn't take as long to accomplish the jog, and it wasn't as hard as it was last time. It was pretty cool. I felt like I had to jog the whole way again tonight. I felt like if I didn't then the fact that I did it before would be some sort of fluke or something, like it was just luck. I really think jogging the hill helped quite a bit so I want to try to do that once a week. It made the other hills along the three miles easier to manage. It is really just an amazing feeling and I am quite proud of myself for being able to do it again. And my big helper, I am immensly proud of her, beyond what words can express!!

It is so cool how my exercising affects my eating. I don't want to eat SAD garbage because I know that it will affect my jogging. It's a really weird thing for me. I am so happy with what I have been able to do so far that I don't want anything to mess it up. It's like, I don't want to eat that BP&J because then I may not be able to jog as well, ect.

Ok, I promise that I will post some pictures soon. I have lots of yummy food pictures to post, I will do it soon! Right now I am tired and that is all for now.

Amazing news!!!!

I am so excited right now that I can hardly conatin myself! Yesterday we went out for our usual jog. As I said in my last blog post we added an extra mile to the entire distance bringing it up to just about 3.2 miles. Last night we went out for our customary jog. Since I had already jogged a full mile I wanted to at least go that far. Once we had gotten to the end of the road I decided to turn the corner and head up the hill jogging to see how far I could go. When I got up the hill I figured I might as well continue down the hill as well and then there was a nice straight-away for the next half mile so I kept on going. Once we got to the mile and a half turnaround I was pretty spent and really ready to stop, so I asked my big helper if she was ready to take a break but she said she wanted to keep going so I (reluctantly) followed along and kept on jogging. By the time we got back to the hill we were so close to the two mile mark that I pushed really hard and we made it the full two miles jogging without stopping! I even kept going a little wasy further until we came to another big hill and that was all she wrote. The last mile we jogged and walked, doing more jogging than walking. This is just so incredible for me I can't even explain it. I could never run a whole mile before, not even when I was in high school and we had to run a timed mile. I could never go the whole distance without stopping and I was a good 40-50 pounds lighter then than I am now. After we jogged the first two miles I felt like breaking out in praise and worshop songs, I was just so elated! This was a huge milestone for me. So tonight we went out for our jog again and I was hoping to be able to go at least the first two miles again without stopping. My ankles hurt really bad and I wasn't comfortable jogging for at least the first half mile. I really wanted to stop after the first mile was gone but I kept on going to the one and a half mile marker and then I really wanted to stop but once again my big helper said she wasn't tired and kept going so I followed along. We made it to the end of two miles and kept on going. I jokingly called out to my big helper and asked her if she was trying to go all the way to which she replied yes and told me I could stop if I wanted to. Well I'd come this far, might as well push through to the end. I am so very, VERY happy to report that we jogged the ENTIRE three miles without stopping once. This is so incredible and amazing for me and I am so proud of my big helper and how well she is doing too. Tomorrow we are going to take a break from the three mile distance run and do some hills to try and build up our leg strength. Right now I am tired and sore and happy!

I have a confession to make

OK, here goes...are you ready for it..... I am addicted...to oranges! Phew, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. I can't get enough of their juicy delicious orange goodness. I could just eat them all day long. Oh, they are so yummy.

The other day I made some really amazing dip that I am calling Green Goodness dip. I originally intended to use it to dip baby carrots and cut up cukes in but I still had some fresh greens from my wonderful CSA farm so I added a bit more vinegar to the dip and Voila! salad dressing. It was really good!

Last night we upped our jog. I added a little over 1/2 mile one way so our total round trip is just about 3.2 miles. Perfect for getting ready for the 5K. I was able to jog almost the whole entire first mile!! I am so please with this. It is really amazing how much progress we have made in such a short amount of time. By going further last night we both ended up jogging about two miles total, maybe more. I am so excited about this! I can feel it getting easier each time I go out and I am able to go up some of the hills now too. I am not nearly so out of breath and wheezy and gaspy afterwards either. Yippee!!!

Tomorrow I am getting my case of oranges in. They better be tasty! The co-op lady said that they were sweet like candy so if a SAD food eater thinks they are sweet I'm sure I will too. I am a very big orange snob though. I only like certain ones. I will keep you posted!

Have a great raw day everyone.

Ramblings

Hello,

I know it's been awhile since I have posted, but I am still staying on track. I had to work through some stuff last week that I found rather interesting so I thought I would share it here.

I had some very bad cravings last week. It was really cold here and the weather really affected me. I wanted some nice warm soup and bread. I struggled very badly through Tues, Wed, and Thurs. to the point where I finally told my husband that I felt like I was doing raw against my will. I know that sounds kind of odd huh? What I meant is that I know that raw works for me and it makes me feel great. I lose weight and feel alive and healthy. But it can be so hard. Sometimes I feel trapped by my food choices, or rather by what I choose not to eat. It is sort of hard to explain but in essence I was having a hard time last week and literally took it one day at a time, complimenting myself on each day I made it through. I am not the kind of person that can just have a little cooked stuff. One bite sends me over the edge and I eat everything! I wish I had the self control as some of you who can eat some SAD and then jump right back into raw. I can't do that and end up having a series of "last suppers" before getting back under control, usually a month later. So anyways I really struggled through Tues, Wed, and Thurs and just had an awful hard time with it. Then I woke up Friday morning and it was gone. There was no more battling or struggle. I was happy on raw again and didn't want to eat SAD! Yippee! I am happy to have made it over that hurdle which will only fuel me through the next one and with each obstacle I overcome I will be better equipped to handle the next.

Another interesting thing I noticed, my husband told me that he needs to go on a business trip in June. He will be gone for a total of three weeks. Originally it was just two weeks, but now it has been bumped up. When he told me I was very upset. All I wanted to do was eat something. Pizza, chips, ice cream, whatever. I wanted to stuff my sadness in food. Then I started planning in my head all the food I would make and eat while he was gone. Mind you, this was not a good list like mangoes, avocadoes, raw crackers, but rather a bad food list. I stood there literally battling within myself for ten minutes before I came out of it, and thankfully I didn't eat anything bad for me. I am obviously a very emotional eater and I still think I will have a hard time while he is away. I would much rather focus on what I can do fun with the childern while he is away and get some exercise too. That also is one of the (many) reasons that I was upset. While he is gone I can not go out jogging at all and I want to be able to do that 5K on the 4th of July. So I need to figure how I can get ready for that with him being gone. Any recomendations would be highly appreciated!

Also I did a lot of browsing this past week at other raw sites. While looking at Heidi and Justins blog at http://rawfoodrightnow.blogspot.com/ I decided to research some local CSA's and found a super little farm. I am so excited about getting fresh produce this summer from them. We went out there this morning to check it out and they are so amazing! They are growing a huge variety of food and are trying to be as self sustaining as possible. I left with a strong desire to get a greenhouse and a bag of salad greens which I am presently enjoying. I want to look into greenhouses more. It would be so amazing to be able to grow food year round and not have to buy it from the store. They even had an avocado tree! It takes 9 years for them to produce fruit but once they start they produce a lot! That would just be so amazing. I also found a co-op locally that I ordered a case of oranges through. It was a really good deal, 56 oranges for $29.00. I will get those on Friday.

So, I guess that is all. I am off now to research greenhouses!
Have a great raw day.