thank you julie!

So, Julie at a little pregnant just wrote a post about starting to run.

I have not run in what seems like forever. Something like two months, anyway. I've been riding my bike 4-5 miles several times a week (in a commuter-y kind of way, not an exercise-y kind of way), and taking classes at the gym a few times a week, but nothing makes me feel like I've really done well exercise-wise like running. When I say "running," by the way, I mean "slowly jogging no faster than people with longer legs normally walk." I'm not a fast runner, I'm not a competitive runner. But for the past few years I've been running off and on, anywhere from 2.5-5 miles each run, a few times a week. And I liked it. Well, sometimes. Not at first, definitely. And not always, even after I had been doing it for a while. But even when I didn't enjoy running, I always loved having run. It made me feel very good about myself, and it kept my weight sort of under control, and when my weight wasn't under control, the fact that I could still trot my fat ass around in sneakers and running shorts made it much, much easier to accept my body as it was.

Over the summer I was, for a rather short while, training for a half-marathon. And then I got sick partway through the summer (I thought you were supposed to get the flu in the winter...), and never quite jumped back on the training bandwagon. It's still something I absolutely want to do, though, so come spring I'm going to start the training up again. Or so I tell myself. But it's a bit hard to envision doing that in the spring when all fall I've just been contemplating running, without actually running. And then feeling guilty. And then eating ice cream to drown the guilt. Clearly, that doesn't work.

So, I read Julie's post. And I read all of the comments. And then I read Doctor Mama's posts about running. And I realized that I had no excuse for not running. So I ran. And it was great. I can't remember why I kept putting it off in the first place. Three and a half happy, slow miles, no problem. I had missed my running music. I had missed my running sneakers. I had missed the zoning out. I had missed that sense of accomplishment that a successful run (whatever that may mean) brings.

So I'm recording this here to remind myself: Run. You like it. Really.

slug behavior

When one is supposed to be doing work, any work--reading, grading, hell, even going for a jog to distract from the reading and grading, but at least in some sort of positive manner--it is a terribly bad idea to turn on the TV "just to see what's on" while one eats some dinner (which one does not in fact need to eat, because one has been alternately cooking and snacking all freaking day). Why? Well, in my case, because one might discover that what's on is, in fact, a Law and Order: SVU marathon. Danger, Will Robinson! Season 7, too, which means that while I've seen most of the episodes, I've only seen them once. It is then an even bigger mistake to get out a pint of Ben and Jerry's to have "just a bite" from the container, instead of putting it into a bowl. So now it's 11pm, I have enough food stockpiled to get me through a good chunk of the week, I have enough Ben and Jerry's in my tummy to keep my pants from fitting, and I have done so little work that tomorrow will probably be one long panic attack. Ah, Sundays, how I love them. I really, really, really need to remember not to schedule my busiest, crappiest day of the week on Mondays. That's what Wednesdays are for.