The good things

Celebrating 60 or so hours of sobriety now.  No more having a beer or mixed drink next to me that I sipped as I fell asleep, no more waking up to mimosas or bloody marys.  Good grief, I know those kids don't live like that on a daily basis, but I just can't imagine that for more than a weekend.  What craziness...

Anyway, I'm still waiting for enough time to get together a solid photo-heavy post about the bachelorette party, but there have been a few kind of cool body-related occurrences in the last day or two.

First, I had a good hair day on Monday and Tuesday.  Of course those were days that I basically just went to work and no where else. 

Second, the many extra pounds that seemed to have appeared on Monday morning are gone again.  I'm a daily weigher and I usually stay in the same 5ish pound range.  I'm at the very very top of that range, maybe even just outside of it, and I have been since post-marathon, post-Italy, post-2.5 weeks of no working out.  I have been trying hard to work out a lot and eat fairly cleanly to get back to the middle of my usual weight range.  Well, Monday morning, I was in for a huge shock.  Probably the most I've seen on the scale in years.  A weekend of candy, chips, popcorn, cheese and crackers, beer, mixed drinks, sugary mixed drinks, smores, and lots and lots of other food did not bode well for my already tight work wardrobe.  And I got home (after having a very interesting conversation with a pilot who sat next to me on the plane ride home) Sunday night and just didn't have the energy or desire to make a decent late dinner -- so I walked down the block to Chipotle.  Oh my.  All in, I guess!  But seriously, Monday morning was scary.  No doubt lots of random sodium, whatever.  But after two days of not eating garbage, I'm at least back to where I was before the weekend started. 

Third, for the first time in months (since probably a week or two before the marathon), when I worked out this morning, I felt like I pretty much kicked @ss.  At boot camp, I was of course tired when I started, but fairly early on, we were sent on our 1 mile run and I felt so strong.  I finished way near the front.  I was pushing myself very hard and sweating like crazy.  Much faster than I usually run.  At about the half-way mark, I felt like I couldn't sustain the pace, and I was a little embarrassed for just having passed two people and then suddenly wanting to slow down, but I told myself to keep pushing for as long as I could, it would only be a few more minutes.  I was willing to crash and burn -- and surprise, it didn't happen.  I finished strong.  The rest of the main part workout was okay, I did fairly average, but I was grouped in with the other people who finished way up front, so I was comparing myself to a stronger bunch than the average boot camper.  My heart rate was very high.  Usually my heart rate is highest when I'm running -- in the heat and pushing hard (which is fairly rare).  But during things like cherry pickers today, I was working hard enough that my heart rate was hitting running levels -- not common at boot camp.  Then we ended the session with weights and abs and again, I finally felt strong.  It was like the muscles were growing and fat may be burning off.  I feel like finally, after 2 months of trying to push myself hard, I might be getting back to where I was about 3 months ago. 

What a long road!  No question it was worth it, but I'm glad I'll be ready to let myself start relaxing a little bit more.  But suddenly for the first time, I'm feeling like I might be ready to bring it in San Antonio for the marathon in November. 

So 3 good things, plus the sobriety, that are making me feel better lately!