I’m not sure how it has happened, but I realized that I currently like ALL of my students!  As in they are all delightful human beings who are genuinely fun to work with.  I feel like this is different than in the past, unless I am the difference…maybe I’m just a better teacher or perhaps in my old age I have gotten better at figuring out how to work with various personalities better.  No matter the reason, it helps the teaching days go by easy! 

Today in my workout Mike brought up the fact that I wanted to lose my honeymoon/holiday weight.  He asked how that was going (I suppose he can tell I’ve gained a few pounds…and he doesn’t even know that I’ve just been wearing leggings or ONE pair of jeans since I got back!).  Sadly it hasn’t been going as well as I’d hoped.  There are a couple of issues I’ve been having.  I feel like I’ve gotten my diet more under control, but it’s not ideal yet.  I haven’t been running as much as I’d like, because I’ve been having trouble getting back into my running routine.  I’ve been cautious since I’ve had some hip/ankle pain, which is probably because I’m out of shape and carrying a little extra weight…which is part of why I’m out of shape and carrying a little extra weight.  I just have to keep at it, run a bit more, maybe do some other cardio if running is a problem, and make sure to pile on the vegetables, cut down on the carbs, and keep the protein leaner!  I think I’ve lost approximately 1 pound since I started weighing myself (I waited over a week after getting home before stepping on the scale.)

Mike suggested I try to really eat "perfectly" for 5 or 6 days in a row.  That’s tough right now, because Sunday we are invited to a potluck dinner and Monday night we are going out for Valentine’s, both occasions that I prefer not to eat "perfectly."  I can probably give it a go starting the following day though!  I can easily think of ways I’ve added on calories in my meals that weren’t necessary, so I can definitely cut those things out (less cheese, less mayo, less cream in my coffee, that sort of thing) between now and Sunday too.  And if you are wondering, yes, I have something in my mind that constitutes eating perfectly, and it may be different than what Mike thinks, but it’s how I initially lost weight a couple of years ago.  Basically it involves tons of veggies, a serving of lean protein, and a serving of whole grain carbs at each meal. 

Okay, enough about my diet.  Now for my exercise 😉

I have something happening this weekend that I haven’t done before:  TWO races!  Saturday is a 3.5 mile trail race that I signed up for since I thought I’d want a little trail race experience before the Castlewood Cup at the end of the month.  But then a friend asked if I wanted to run a 5k downtown, called Run for the Chocolate (chocolate, sadly, does not fit in with eating "perfectly") on Sunday, and I figured, why not.  So that’s my weekend!  Two races followed by a potluck.  I’m not expecting to PR in the 5k, but I’ll give it my all!

Oh, and I still owe you at least one blog post about our honeymoon (who am I kidding, you know it’ll be a couple!)  Since the wedding, I haven’t taken many pictures, including not that many on our honeymoon…I think I felt that since I had just had a day DEVOTED to pictures of me (and Chris, of course) I was tired of pictures.  Plus I feel like my pictures are just so terrible in comparison to Sarah Crowder‘s, why even bother?  I know I’ll be back into the photo taking mood soon (probably even this weekend), but that is why I haven’t shown you any recent photos.  The last time I uploaded photos from my camera was the day we returned from our honeymoon.

So…are any readers racing this weekend?  Will I see you anywhere?  I’ll be the one squeezed into my running tights 😉