Time to Go

Hi all!  I know I've been mostly absent for the past few months, so I'm not sure how many of you are left out there that still stop by, but just to let you know, I'm moving on from this blog.  In the two years I've been writing ER2ES, I've changed and grown a lot and I'm ready to have that be reflected more in what I blog about and what my blogs "claimed" focus is.

The goal when I started En Route to En Shape was to keep up with WW and weight loss and to start running with C25K and complete a 5k.  Now, even though I still would like to lose 10-15 lbs (who wouldn't, really?) and have lots of work to do with my running, I don't really feel like I'm "en route" to getting healthy--I already am and I just want to keep being healthy and get better at what I do.

So, I'm moving on.  If you want to stay with me and to follow me on the rest of my journey, come check me out at Eat, Run, Read.  I think that title is much more reflective of me, what I'm focusing on, and where I'm at.

Hope to see you there!

It's OFFICIAL!

I've finally registered Jon and myself for the Cincinnati Half Marathon NEXT weekend in my lovely hometown!

I've been procrastinating our registration for two reasons:
1. I couldn't find my checkbook in the move and I'm too cheap to want to pay the $11 processing fee online... Turns out, it's at my mom's... She tried to send them to us but it didn't work, so I finally got us in (with the processing fee) right under the deadline for the tee-shirt ordering!
2. I was afraid to sign up because even though I did "run" a half last weekend (I say "run" because I walked a TON starting at mile 8 when my sciatica/whatever that weird pain in my back right butt area was popped up again for the 2nd week in a row), I'm still really intimidated and nervous.

That said, here we are, no refunds from Active.com, so I gotta do it now!  I'm nervous AND excited, so we'll see.  I think it might be really cool that the half is the longest distance for the day--won't have to compare myself to the ultra awesome marathoners!

Any tips for my first BIG, LONG, SCARY race?

Living Life: What does that mean for my blog?

While I'm an avid blog reader, I'm not so awesome at writing at my own blog.  Plus, I guess now that I 'm back from France, I'm realizing that the blog for sure needs a design update (no longer running in France now am I?).

Anyway, I'm trying to do a bit of soul searching on what this blog should look like and focus on, etc.  When I started ER2ES, I was just starting to run (C25K!) and was an avid WeightWatcher.  Now (even if I'm not as consistent as I'd like), I'd consider myself a runner and I've stopped with WW.  Honestly, lately I've stopped tracking at all.  My focus has been on the following:

-unpacking and settling in in our new place (i.e. buying things, donating things, etc)
-adjusting to the new demands of being a grad student (hello, reading!)
-eating healthy and cooking healthy foods for us on a budget
-training for the half marathon on 10/22
-making new friends
-Oh, and of course, Auburn and Ohio State football (sad week, last week was)...

Being in my own place and being the person entirely responsible for what food comes into our house and what happens to it (barring Saturday morning pancakes made by Jonboy, of course) means that I have a lot of control over what we eat.  That said, while I've not been tracking, our food is pretty routine and our dinners are alway healthy (even if there is sometimes dessert and red wine!).

For example, here's today's plan, a typical day of food:

Breakfast: FiberPlus Cinnamon cereal (3/4c), skim milk, half a banana, coffee w/ a tiny splash of low cal creamer
Lunch: 2oz ham or turkey sandwich made on either Hungry Girl roll-ups or 2 slices of FiberOne bread with a slice of cheese, lettuce, and spicy mayo; a Greek yogurt; an apple; and a FiberOne bar
Dinner: Greek Spaghetti Squash recipe from WWs, possible red wine

Last night's dinner was the Coconut Curry Soup from Kelly's Healthified Kitchen.  YUM!

I'm trying to be really good about meal planning and budgeting, so having the routine for breakfast and lunch allows me to do fun things for dinner every night.  I also plan to do a baked acorn squash recipe later this week.

So, even if I'm not tracking, I'm not overdoing it AND with our increased running (did 13.1 in training on Sunday!) I'm feeling really good!  Now, if only we owned a scale in the new place so I could see how my weight is actually.  Clothes are fitting great, so I'm not that worried about it.

Anyway, that said, I'm debating trying to change the focus of the blog to better incorporate what I'm doing (studying, cooking, and running) and not really losing weight avidly.  Thoughts?  What can I say, I got the idea from Christina at Just Running.

On that note, I'll blog more later--I think it was just hard to finally get myself to sit down and blog again (you know, like it's hard to make yourself start tracking/running/etc after a long time off).  Now, off to campus!