Don't want to "gâcher mon régime"

I was great all day yesterday at school. I woke up early after more sleep than I'd had the night before, made a cup of tea, and proceeded to dress nicely and put on make-up in an effort to make myself appear much better than I felt. It worked for awhile, which is good. Sylvie, the director of La Passerelle (the school I teach at on Thursdays) informed me that this means I need to take a "French Lover" (she said those words in English, btw). We'll see. Just the thought currently makes me want to throw up.

Anyway, the kids were really great. Somehow having an entire school worth of children flock to you, say "Hello!" and hug you kind of helps. We made pumpkin pies with one of my classes (photos to come later) and I had an exceptionally excellent Thursday lunch with the teachers. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned Thursday lunch, but everyone chips in 10€ and the husband of one of the teachers makes a gourmet meal. This week, Jean-Yves made sauerkraut (since he's from Alsace) and apple pie and, although I still have next to no appetite, I did enjoy it... even if I didn't finish my already small slice of pie. Sauerkraut is a big dish in Cincinnati so it was a comforting meal, since I'd give anything to be home right now. Here are a few photos I managed to take of the meal with my cell phone:

Jean-Yves making some final preparations... That's a lot of food.
The big platter for this week. Don't worry there were 12 of us and plenty of leftovers.

So far, I'm finding that being home alone is the worst. I feel very much like the person Dane Cook describes in this video. It's one of my favorite Dane Cook clips and it managed to make me smile a bit today. I'm lucky I have so many people who are willing to put up with me right now, I'm sure I'm rather tiring to deal with.

I stepped on the scale this morning and am apparently 2 kilos down from the last time I measured (perhaps a week or 2 ago?). I wish I could say it was the new plan, but I have a feeling the reason I'm finding the new plan so easy has more to do with the fact that I'm not hungry. Though, I do love me these bananas. Like I said, I refuse to let how sad and hurt I am "gâcher mon régime (diet)" and all my hard work. Gâcher is a great verb, by the way. It means "to waste, ruin, spoil, or throw away." For example, here a common expression with it is "gâcher sa vie" meaning to ruin one's life. I won't be melodramatic and say my life is ruined because that's not the case, but I do like the verb and don't want to ruin all my hard work by stuffing my face with pizza and ice cream. That'd just make me feel worse.

In an effort to make myself feel better, I'm trying to do the opposite and today, I woke up and suited up for my first run since November 5th (which is coincidentally Jon's birthday now that I think about it). Not important. What is important is that I got out there in the freezing cold (it was -2ºC/28ºF) and did my best.

Here I am (blurry) after my run. I had kept on my gloves, ear thing, turtle neck, jacket etc the whole time and my arms and my butt were FREEZING. Any ideas on what to do?

It was only a 3 mile run and I stopped 4 times for water and to get my heart rate to come down since it was frequently up around 184, which is really high for me. Not a super fast pace, but I got out of the house and did it and for that I'm proud.

My friend Judith (the professor I worked with in Paris) is coming into town tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her. It'll be really comforting since she knows both of us, she and I are really close, AND she's also kind of a sister/mentor/mom figure sometimes and I really would love a family-hug. She got confused and I thought she was getting here today since she bought the wrong train tickets. Oops! When I figured out I'd have the whole day to myself, I really panicked (I'm not doing so well alone right now), but Kyle, Helen, and some other friends have pulled through and have been around and will be making me go out tonight so I am far from Facebook etc. Whew. Again, really lucky to have such a great group of family and friends.

On that note, I need to go read some of the stuff I want to read to prepare for my grad school interviews. I reaaaaaaaally want to get into Emory still. Though, a nap does sound quite nice.

Columbus Commit to Be Fit 5k

So, today was the 5k that I started C25K to train for back in January. After a carbo-loading pasta meal at our friend Andrew's last night, we drove up to Columbus to spend the night on my friend Jess's couch, since she was running in the 5k too. The day started out entirely too early for a Saturday, overcast, and ended up with a pretty hard rain by the end of Jon's half marathon. Parking and everything was painless since we pre-paid/reserved parking and had already picked up our registration packets last weekend. We were also able to exchange our tech shirts for smaller sizes without any fuss as well.

We got there in plenty of time and managed to find an empty tent to use as cover while stretching as we got ready for the race.

Here's Jess, making sure she's all stretched out for take off.
Jon was very excited about his new Auburn tech shirt he ordered and had overnighted specially for the race. He was also really excited (and kind of nervous) about his first half marathon.
I'm rocking a different color UA tank this week and am apparently really elated to be being photographed. Most importantly here, you'll see that I look like a real runner... How'd that happen?
We lined up with the 10:00 pacers and since there were around 10,000 participants, after the 8am start, it took us around 7 minutes to actually cross the finish line. Sadly, since I wanted to wait to start my Garmin until I'd gotten to the finish line... by the time that happened, I was too caught up in the moment and it took me 3/10 of a mile to realize that I'd failed at that... Oops. You can see that on the map:

We started and ended on Spring St., but I didn't realize it was off until I looked down and saw 0ft. distance as I crossed High St.
Other than that minor slip up, the race went really well and I pushed myself really hard too. In fact, I was really surprised when I saw this HRM chart:


I really must've been pushing at the end, since my heart rate was above Zone 5--almost at 190! Still, it felt great to finish.

Race Stats:
Time: 33:16
Place: 615/1868 overall, 247/1155 women
Official Pace: 10:44
Not too shabby I feel, even if it's not as good as the one last week. Then again, last week's timing wasn't as official/organized and they didn't have chips, so it's possible that I was slower and closer to my own iPod stopwatch's measurements. Regardless, I know I pushed it has hard as I could.

And now, some after race photos.

Me with my other 5k ladies, Jess and Linda and our finishers medals
After seeing my Garmin at work the other day, Linda was so excited about it that she made her final decisions that she definitely wanted one too. Little did she know that her boyfriend had already gotten her one as a 5k/birthday surprise!
Jon finished his first half in 1:52:00 in the pouring rain! I'm so proud of him. I made him a sign and waiting for him on the sidelines as they came in, but, sadly, the sign didn't hold up too well in the rain.
Afterward, we changed and met up with some of our other 5k/Half friends at Plank's Cafe for the very appropriate after-race meal of burgers, fries, and beer. Hey, we deserved it.

Now, onto the next challenge!

Gridiron Gallop 5k!

First 5K = SUCCESS!

After a night of not careful preparation (too much food and beer), Jon and I woke up early(ish) yesterday to go run our first 5k together. Thankfully, it didn't rain during the race like we'd feared, so that's a perk. It was just overcast with a slight drizzle at points. We were running a bit late, but since I'd pre-registered, it didn't take too long to get our numbers on and get situated at the 50 yard line in Peden Stadium for the start of the race:

See? All ready for the start!
Quick photo of me in my official 5k runner get-up. This bib is now on my frige.

At 10am, they started the race and off we went. Here's the path we followed:


We run around here (especially the return part on the bike path) all the time, so it was interesting to see how it went. I was REALLY proud of myself. I'm used to running between 12-13 minute miles (occasionally 11) but, according to my un-official iPod measurements my mile breakdown was really surprising. I had been aiming to complete the 5k in under 36:00, so I'm really pumped. My ipod told me that I ran the 5k in 32:45, so these are probably slightly off since my official 5k time was 31:14!!! but here are my mile break downs:

Mile 1: 10:34
Mile 2: 10:58
Mile 3: 10:41
I'm especially pleased with this breakdown since it shows that I was able to maintain a steady pace the whole time on my own. I didn't walk at all and I actually ended up passing some people who started out too fast and ended up walking. This mile pace also tells me that I can definitely push myself harder in training and hit an 11-minute mile regular pace.

Jon was there to cheer me on at the finish line (he finished in 25:28, I'm so proud!) and we went on together to get our tee-shirts and goodie bags. Here's a quick shot we got someone to take of us while waiting in line:

Look at us, all nice and sweaty. :)

This is the snack we got in the recovery tent:



Then, THIS is what we found buried in just MY goodie bag:

Ick!

I wanted to throw it all out, but Jon's going to pawn it off on people at work. It really is a testament to how much my/our eating habits have changed that when I saw all that food, it disgusted me and I DEFINITELY had no desire to eat it. More oranges and bananas, please!

Anyways, the run was a success. Then, to keep with the running theme of the day, Jon and I drove up to Cbus to get the packets for the half/5k next week. We also used the race discount and picked up 2 free tech tank tops and new running shoes (photos later). I also went and got a second set of running clothes. Exactly the same as what I have, but the top this time is yellow. Woo! I think I earned it. As far as my garmin... still no updates on USPS tracking. I'm getting impatient! Well, that's all for now! C25K = SUCCESS!!!

W10?D1

Now that C25K is over, I guess I need to find a new way to judge levels... Perhaps my goal for Level 10 will be getting below 160. I was 165 this morning when I weighed myself, so this seems to be a reasonable goal. I would LOVE to be in the 150s by graduation... and finally get to wear my "30 pounds" earrings that have been thumb-tacked on my bulletin board for months now.

In other news, I got an email from Amazon that says that my Garmin has finally shipped, even if the estimated date of arrival isn't until the 28th. Boo. I really can't wait to try it out. Hopefully, with its help I can get a steady pace established and then start pushing towards a steady 11-minute mile. I ran with Jonboy for a bit last night and for the first 16 minutes we did a 10:40 mile pace and I felt like I was pushing pretty hard. Hopefully that can change.

Speaking of which, last night's run: not stellar. Ended up jogging for a total of 55 minutes + whatever I walked, and at no point did I seem to hit my stride. Oh well, we all have our bad days. I'm taking tonight off (Zumba is cancelled... we'll see how *that* reflects tonight's weigh-in), but then Jon and I are running in a 5k here on campus Saturday morning before next week's "real" 5k (i.e. the 5k I used C25K to train for) in Columbus. Saturday's event was a last minute decision. Since we already run around here all the time, why not do a 5k to support cystic fibrosis? Plus, it'll give me a good idea of where I am for this last week before the Columbus run next week.

Anyways, I'm outta here--I have a huge French test and then weigh in tonight... I'm pretty optimistic about both, we'll see how it goes! :)