You make me so happy!

Hey guys, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who is always so positive about my training progress.  To the people that tell me that I inspire them, you really have no idea how great that makes me feel.  I know most of my readers are people that I know personally... from high school, family, etc.  So you all know that this whole "half marathon" and "running 9 miles" crap is really not the norm for me.  It's been such a fun journey for me that I'm still on and it means so much to have many of you there with me.

I got a text message from my friend Teenie last night saying that my blog from yesterday had inspired her to go outside and go for a run.  I thought that was amazing and it was such a reaffirming text message to receive.  It's a really cool feeling to be able to inspire positive change in people or make them think, "Hey, maybe I can do that too?" and it really makes me want to spend more time growing this blog and sharing with more people.

Often, I get questions from my friends who have seen my changes over the year and even just asking me a question really makes me feel great.  It's funny to me to have people ask for healthy cooking advice, recipes, or fitness/exercise questions because I don't feel like I am expert.  I am just a regular old person who a couple years ago [somehow] decided to make some changes in her life.  I guess that's maybe what makes it approachable for people to hear me talk about this junk?

There are a few blogs online that really inspire me.  One of which is Runs for Cookies, a blog from a girl who lost more than 120 pounds by taking up running!  One of the things that I've learned a lot about from reading Katie's blog is about identifying, and controlling, binge eating.  As well, I just love her outlook on things.  When Katie does her "long run" each week she uses the Weigh Watchers PointsPlus points she has earned on a special treat.  Lately it's been a Mrs. Fields cookie and frosting sandwich.  Yum!

I decided to do the same for my long run and had been planning all week to take myself out to ice cream at TCBY or Lemondrop or Sixteen Handles or one of the many, many indulgent candy-filled ice cream places that I love going to but have to keep myself away from, haha.  I was excited about going all week and having my "treat" after running but yesterday afternoon when I went out to do errands, for whatever reason I wasn't really in the mood for ice cream (well, in reality, it's frozen yogurt, topped with a shit ton of candy in my case.)  There was one thing that kept popping into my brain as what I wanted for my treat so I decided to just go for it.

Which was how I ended up stopping at a CVS, walking in directly to one of those big bins of Cadbury Eggs they have by the registers, picking one up and going directly to the check out with my debit card to pay for the $1.09 Cadbury Creme Egg.  "Don't judge." I told the check out guy, haha.

I think in the end he loved me because he was like, "Um... the Cadbury Eggs are buy one get one free." and I thought about it for a sec and responded, "Well.  I only want one.  So, do you want the other one?"

He thought for a second and said, "Okay."

So I grabbed another egg, gave it to him, and left to come home and sit and enjoy my Cadbury Egg.  If that doesn't sum up ME in a single interaction, I don't know what does :)

But let me tell you... that Cadbury Egg was GOOD!

Please excuse my chipped nails.  In addition, I ate my Cadbury Egg with a coffee that I had gotten from Dunkin Donuts that I brought home and added my Sugar Free Salted Caramel syrup to.  So good and such a delicious treat!

Now, in full disclosure, I probably continued indulging a little bit longer in the day than I should.  As I mentioned, we had a little bit of a girls night.  I totally forgot to take pictures but I put out a fairly healthy spread of veggies and hummus, chips and salsa, bread and dipping oil, a flatbread pizza, some "veggie birds' nests" and some vegan bakery snacks my friend Andrea brought over.  Well, and beer and wine.  Duh.

It was all delicious but I probably had a bite or two more than necessary.  Especially when I got home at 2:00 a.m. with my friend and raided the leftovers.  Woops!

Oh well, just like I didn't let my walking in my run yesterday ruin it, I won't let that ruin me either this week.  I just had a lovely breakfast of oatmeal mixed with fresh strawberries and cranberry tea and now I'm off the gym to get in a little swim.  Happy Sunday everyone!