Adieu, 2009

Guys, awoke this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow.

How gorgeous is my city?

This is my corner, as I walk to work.

Here, a special treat, is Times Sq, about 2 hours before the crowds start arriving.

The crane is to set up something, but Lord knows what.

The lights shine bright even at 10am on a snowy/sleety day.

There will be deep thoughts aplenty tomorrow about what my goals for 2010 are, and what 2009 has meant to me.

But tonight, there's fresh cod to make, a yam to boil, a glass of wine to pour, and my boyfriend (back in my good graces) to embrace.

Happy New Year, everybody!

How'm I doin?

Got through the party last night in decent form. Didn't quite make my resolution not to drink, but sipped water for most of the night until it was time for one glass of wine with my dear former colleague, and then I left.

No food, thank goodness. I fortified with a half a turkey/hummus sandwich and a bag of soy chips before I went. Therefore, the bar pizza could not get the best of me. Phew!

Home for a healthy dinner.

But...didn't get the workout in that I wanted. That's got me down, but I'll have to redouble my effort to get to the gym today and make it a serious workout.

Very odd, but I am filled with the desire to go jogging. All the time. More on this later -- I'm pretty sure it's a manifestation of a subconscious longing to regain my lost fitness.

We'll discuss.

For now, everyone have a great day!

Frozen NYC

It is COLD out there today!

Drat, there goes my morning walk to work. Last year it was mild to cold all winter but still easily walkable with a good jacket and bundle.

This temp is a killer -- no messing around with 20 degrees and wind chills below zero.

So, challenge for the day: get in a workout BEFORE I leave work for the day (company gym), because there's a party tonight for a coworker.

I do not want to drink or eat at the party. Really, I don't.

The plan is to start with water, and stick to it. And I'll have a fage yogurt before I go. I'd like to leave by 8:30 or 9, and be home to have a late dinner with the B/F.

Things have gotten really out of hand weight-wise and eating wise. I gained a few pounds over Thanksgiving, and now will have gained several more. I ate a lot over Christmas -- way, way, way more than I needed. And got little exercise beyond a quick morning walk.

If I were to get on the scale right now, it would be very damaging. So I'm backing off and concentrating on regaining my good behaviors. Starting with this party tonight.

We have a trip in the offing -- late January -- and I want to be back at my pre-Thanskgiving weight before we go.

Thanks to Kimberly and Peridot for the humorous and understanding responses to my perfume breakdown. See? I'm not crazy!

Seriously though, one of the elements of weight loss/behavior change for me involves not eating my feelings. And that means letting the crazy out sometimes!

The B/F and I have mended fences. Last night we resumed our interrupted present exchange, once he brought home the right perfume. I explained again how hurt I was that he hadn't bothered to get the right gift.

After he opened the incredibly thoughtful and loving gifts I bought him (if I do say so myself), he felt like a real heel. As well he should. So that's all right then.

Er....emotional fallout

Luckily, this particular meltdown did not involve food.

Transitioning back home was rough. Long day of traveling, a lot of stress, good food choices, but not without a lot of effort. I had to forcibly yank my wandering mind (and eyes) back on track -- it was like being harnessed to a wayward pitbull. Draining.

Got home, found my two presents laid out on the bed from the B/F. Very sweet. Had gotten him some very nice gifts down south, and was excited for him to come home so we could open them.

That's when everything went completely haywire --- like a Freaky Friday kind of scenario, except I don't know who I swapped bodies with.

Before I left the B/F asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I'm not one for gifts and such, so he rarely gets to indulge his love of shopping for me. I told him a specific perfume -- one that I used to wear a long time ago and wanted to revisit.

The name was repeated at least three times before I left, because I know his memory is faulty. On the day he bought the perfume, he texted me and said "The perfume you want is X, right?" Picture me rolling my eyes as I read the text, heaving a long-suffering sigh, and texting back, "NO -- It's Y."

There are two perfumes with very similar names done by the same designer. He kept fixating on the wrong one -- ie, the one I didn't want. I thought the text would clear that up for good.

So ... you can see where I'm going with this.

When I finally got home, exhausted and probably a bit overwrought from leaving my family, I laid out all the presents I'd brought back for him (including gifts from my parents, and also a ton of his favorite t-shirts only found in a certain store near my family's house, and a very carefully selected gift from me -- something he's been wanting for a long time).

When he came in, we settled down for our Christmas together.

And of course, I opened my box and found the wrong perfume. He bought the very perfume I told him three times NOT to buy.

Instant tears. Crushing disappointment.

It sounds silly, I know. It probably IS silly.

It's just a box of perfume. But the message I get is: I couldn't be bothered to make sure I got it right.

This is probably one of those instances where men and women have completely opposite reactions to things.

But as I stared at the little pink box so clearly emblazoned with the WRONG name, I'm thinking to myself, why doesn't he pay attention to what I say? Why doesn't he listen?

And that, my friends, is a real button pusher for me. I don't like feeling like I'm not worth hearing. I don't like feeling like an afterthought. It makes me cry like nothing else, and also enrages me -- a bad combo, I gotta say.

Naturally, the B/F was full of remorse, and wanted to rush out right away to exchange the gift. Which is rather silly at 8pm on a Sunday night.

I cried through the entire "Sound of Music" broadcast on our local TV that night before going to bed.

I'm trying not to get too bogged down in this and not make it a federal case, because generally speaking the B/F is a pretty swell guy, and has been at my side through thick and thin since I met him.

But he's got a terrible habit of not paying attention to detail, and it drives me absolutely crazy. And I tend to personalize it. To my mind, it's not that he doesn't listen in general, it's that he doesn't listen to me.

Ergo, situations like last night's do tend to occur.

But, I ask you (righteous indignation in full force): when your partner, who rarely asks for gifts, requests a specific one for Christmas, don't you bloody well make sure you get it right?

Homeward Bound

Hardest thing about the holidays: saying goodbye.

I hate having to leave my parents and family after just a few quick days of fun and festivities.

But I guess there's no way to avoid that, even if I stayed down here for weeks. Unless I'm willing to relocate (and I'm not) there's always going to be a goodbye.

It's a bittersweet fact of life, I guess. Having far away family makes it more fun to go for the holidays, but much harder to leave.

New Year's Resolution No. 1: More time with family.

Second hardest thing about the holidays: getting back into your jeans after two days of mega goodies. Oh boy! There's gonna be hell to pay when I get home and get back on the scale.

But not really, because I know it's going to be ok. I'll get back on it. Already I have some long-term goals in mind for 2010 that I'm kind of excited about, and they require me to challenge myself a bit more physically this year.

I'm excited to get more fit. And to that end, one of my Christmas present requests was ..... New Rules of Weight-Lifting for Women. And Santa kindly brought it! Yay!

I'm going to read through it on the flight home.

In the meantime, here's a quick look at the kind of airport pitfalls I've studiously been avoiding on my Xmas travels.

This was taken early in the morning, so not too many people in line. Amazingly, or should I say frighteningly, there were people drinking at the bar! I'm no teetotaller myself, but ... ICK! Alcohol at 9am before a flight? Would make me miserable.

So...off to walk around a bit more. See you back in NYC!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is fine and dandy and loving life.

I'm soldiering on through the hols. Have some funny pics of the airport to share when I get a moment to upload.

It's a nightmare to navigate through the myriad Cinnabons and Au Bon Pains and so on. There's one every five feet! Airports are a nightmare for me --- kept myself busy by walking, and then by working. I was actually glad I brought the laptop.

Back soon.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

and the heat in my apartment has me stifled,
Please no, don't let it snow, I've got to go.

OK, enough with the messed up Christmas carols. I'm a bit stir crazy. So much snow in Nueva York! It's kind of awesome.

But I'm watching the weather veeerrrry carefully. Any threat of a repeat storm and I'm going to change my ticket to get out of dodge a few days early. I do not want to be stuck at an airport the day before Christmas Eve.

Am going to trudge through the snow right now for groceries. Then back home to work on freelance projects.

I'm off these days because I had planned to spend this time with my nephew. Since that plan isn't happening, I might as well use this time to my advantage and get a jump on all the work I've got piled up.

Clear the decks for a stress-free New Year's Eve, maybe.

No good news on the weight loss front. I haven't been overeating, but I have not been at the gym.

I'm in a bit of a stasis right now. But those Thanksgiving pounds are still with me, and I think they really need to go before the New Year.

I'm on guard, gotta get myself in gear.

Family Drama

And so it continues.

Thanks to everyone for their supportive comments. I probably came off as a wee bit dramatic, but really I was gutted by the news when I heard it Thursday night.

Luckily, I haven't drowned my sorrows in a vat of eggnog, or buried my disappointment in an avalanche of Christmas cookies.

That's something, at least.

I was aided by a very busy yesterday at work that had me out in the cold all day, and then hanging out in a coffee shop in Brooklyn. That really could have been trouble. Lots of baked goods.

I survived though. The only things that passed my lips were 2 boiled eggs and a fruit cup in the morning, and a crappy, really foul warm chicken sandwich in the afternoon (the sign said 500 calories -- but I dunno for sure).

Dinner was on plan last night too.

So far so good. Picking up the pieces. Handling the family insanity.

Please let this all be over soon.

Heartbroken

It's really very hard for me to come to grips with this right now, so I'm just going to say it in simple words.

My nephew cannot come to NYC for Christmas.

I am so sad. It was going to be his first Christmas in the big city.

We planned it for months. I had just bought us tickets to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular show as a special treat.

He cannot come.

He didn't get hurt or anything. He just made a stupid decision to get involved in a fracas at his school -- a verbal exchange, nonetheless. Not your usual playground fisticuffs. Some kids were exchanging insults via Facebook -- I guess that's what tweens do nowadays -- and a parent saw it and was horrified by what the kids were writing to each other.

I have not asked my brother for details. I do not want to know.

I am also horrified. And I'm also angry. A little bit, but definitely angry at my nephew for such poor judgment, and such unexpected and unwelcome behavior. It's not like him.

But kids that age often have a lot more to them then is seen by the adults around them, right?

All I can do is mourn what was lost. Our first big city Christmas together, the lights, the cold, the beautiful shining winter sun in Central Park.

For the past three months all he's been talking about is seeing snow. And I kept telling him it probably wouldn't snow.

Today the weatherman said the forecast for Sunday is snow. And he would have been here with me.

I've never had a family member in the city for Christmas. I've either been alone, or gone south to be with them.

So I guess I'm mourning what would have been his first, and my first. And it would have been a memory we always shared.

And even as I sit here trying to come to grips with this information, my heart bleeds for him. He is going to be absolutely devastated when his dad tells him tomorrow. He worked hard for the whole school year to earn the grades he needed to make this trip.

But I don't see how we can overlook his other behavior. Kids have to learn there are consequences to their actions, right? He has to learn.

This morning as I was rushing to get ready for work he called me and told me a big tale about how he was having problems with some kids at school. He was lying to me, of course. I think he was trying to construct some elaborate problems to explain away what he knew was going to happen later when all the parents found out. He wanted me to call his dad and have his dad pick him up early at school. Escapism starts early, no? I guess he thought if he could stay out of school for the next two days, nobody would find out what was going on until after Christmas.

Are we being too harsh? I don't want to crush his spirit. But I can't see rewarding him with a trip to NYC in the wake of such truly unacceptable behavior.

I can't stand thinking of how he's going to react when his dad tells him the trip is off. I'm so conflicted.

They say that a big part of dealing with weight is to learn to sit with your emotions instead of stuffing them down with food.

I couldn't eat right now if I tried. I think this is the first time in a long time that I have no appetite.

Party Update

I'm groaning away under the weight of seasonal sensory overload.

OK, quick summary of things:

1) Weigh in today. Ack! No idea what to expect. Hope to have shed at least 2 of the 4 lbs I gained post-Thanksgiving. Not so sure that's gonna happen.

2) Finished one of my projects. One down, two to go. Days til nephew arrives and demands full attention: 3

3) Remembered to call mom for b-day. Phew!

4) Parties yesterday: I got through the first one by clutching a glass of water, and making sure I ate a hearty lunch beforehand (turkey sando, fage yogurt, soy chips). I had one small glass of wine just before leaving. Avoided the food.

5) Second party of the night: not so successful. A couple glasses of wine, and everything going on way later than I expected/wanted. But too much fun to leave. So that was cool. Around 10pm everyone ordered pizza and wings. Good news is the pizza was very thin crust, very light on the cheese, really a delicate kind of pizza. With so many hands grabbing, there was no chance to overeat. I got two small pieces, and one bbq wing.

But, with three parties in two days, and wine consumption along with breaks in routine and very little time to workout, one must be realistic.

Maybe if I hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut really hard the scale with think I'm lighter?

Swamped in Christmas Cheer

That's me. SICC. Swamped in Christmas Cheer.

It's a good thing to feel rushed and busy and overwhelmed before the holidays -- it means you're gonna have fun, right?

Right now I'm trying desperately to finish a big freelance project before my nephew gets here. And I managed to pick up a few extra book reviews to do for an overworked editor -- great for the bank account, bad for my stress levels.

Around all this, I'm shoehorning in my regular job, and this endless stream of Xmas parties --- oh, and, you know, that little thing called working out.

Oh yeah, also arranging things for my nephew to see/do when he comes here Sunday for a few days. We're already signed up for three shows, including a Rockefeller Center Rockettes thing that he will probably get a kick out of (ha ha -- lame puns calm me down, sorry).

And squeezing in a dinner/night out with the BF, who for the first time in about six years, won't be with me on Christmas. This will be his mom's first Xmas since his dad died this summer, and we feel she can't be left alone. But she's too frail to travel ... so, he stays, I go south to my peoples. I will miss him.

Folks, I'm feeling kind of breathless and sick to my stomach (SICC to my stomach).

Today I have to do a whole ton of things, including a mani-pedi, then go to a party tonight, not eat anything there and come home and have dinner, then finish a book review that's due tomorrow.

Wednesday I have two parties to go to, and then hopefully finish off another book review (but I still have to find some time to read that book). And then possibly do one more, if the editor wants it.

And I just remembered that Wednesday is my mother's birthday. Must call her.

I'm sorry this has nothing to do with weight loss per se....I'm just so overwhelmed that I'm brain dumping everything out.

Good news is: gym on Sunday, gym on Monday. I had a great party Sat night but had to yank myself back on track. Sunday was an alright day for eating, no big screw ups. Monday was ok. I really avoided temptation.

I actually decided not to go to Whole Foods for weekly shopping because I knew I'd end up face first in the vegan dessert section. Bad, bad, bad. We had lots of veggies we hadn't eaten the week before, and tempeh, so I just went to our quickie local grocery store for my cottage cheese (I eat it for breakfast weekdays).

Even there, I had to avert my eyes and scurry around quickly to keep from picking up a little baked good. I did it though.

Came home with my planned snack of a small cottage cheese and a small fage yogurt for later.

Hey -- a Christmas miracle, of sorts!

Listen, I'm hoping you all are having great holiday build up weeks. I've been keeping up on the blogs, if not commenting. Everyone's doing fantastic, and I am inspired, as always.

Cheers!

Short and Sweet

Party last night was a blast. Great friends, great conversation, great food.

A little too much great food, if you want to know the truth.

It's really hard to eat moderately at a party full of all the things you most like to ravenously devour.

There were a few things that went well.

I steered clear of the deadly marshmallow and pecan topped yam souffle. Definitely a dietary disaster waiting to happen -- the pecan topping alone tipped me to that!

I grabbed a small salad plate and ate off that instead of the huge, dinner-sized plates. I didn't overdo it on the meats and main dishes: pork, chili, beans-and-rice, meatloaf and chicken wings.

But the finger foods did trip me up a bit. Lots of nibbles. Thank goodness they never got around to pulling out the big desserts! Although several chocolate chip cookies made their way into my mouth.

In any case, there was plenty of opportunity for me to truly stuff myself senseless. I didn't.

For as long as I can remember, I've associated a "good time" with a certain amount of dietary hedonism. It's like I can't have fun unless I'm completely unaware of time and space and just eating, eating, eating. (Not that I'd eat too much at one time in front of other people, of course, because that would make me feel funny -- no, I'd invest incredible energy in devising strategies to get me food without anyone being aware of exactly how much I'd eaten. (At least, I'd hope they didn't know.))

There's still an element of that in my life. But it is getting better.

I really wonder what it would be like to be at a party and eat if you are hungry and stop when you are not? And not give the food another thought after that?

Someday I really hope to know the answer to that question.

Time Flies

whether you are having fun or not, apparently!

I can't believe we're already through the week. I guess the universe has slipped into that pre-Xmas time warp where everything is super fast.

It's been a whirlwind week since Monday, with a few curveballs.

I haven't been able to hit the gym the way I wanted to, but I have walked to work every morning (in bitter cold temps).

One day this week while working with a photographer we had to go try to talk to a certain family in Brooklyn that's been in the news lately. We were at the hospital where we thought the family was visiting a relative. Then we got word they were at home. We had just gotten an amazing parking spot at the hospital though. Moving the photographer's car was out of the question.

"Maybe it's walkable?" I suggested. I never would have done that before. We looked at a map and it was indeed walkable -- a mere 1.5 miles down the road. We hoofed it, and hoofed it back.

That simply wouldn't have occurred 12 months ago. Or, I'd have been panting and footsore and incredibly exhausted and sweaty by the time it was done.

This time I was actually pleased. My reaction was, "Score! Extra exercise!"

On the eating front, not too bad, but friends have been dropping by every night this week, which meant a little more wine than usual, and more treats. One night there were olives stuffed with feta cheese, another night there was manchego cheese, and those damned mini-fruit tarts made a repeat appearance!

It was all within maintenance portions -- but not exactly weight-loss portions.

Major challenges loom. A big party tomorrow night with lots of food. A party Tuesday and TWO parties on Wednesday.

It's enough to make me long for the dreary social doldrums of January, already!

Plus Four

No, I'm not wearing those fancy kind of golf pants known as plus fours.

I am plus four. As in, up four pounds from the day before Thanksgiving.

You know ... there are times when you gain weight and it's really confusing because you tried to do everything "right" all week and you worked out and all that and still the scale went up.

This is not one of those times.

This is a case of me not eating on plan for a few days and indulging a bit, not working out for a few days and my body deciding it's not going to be a losing week.

Cause and effect. I indulged a bit too much, ergo I now weight a bit too much.

There can be no confusion about that.

The good news is that I was up four pounds. Friends, when I peeked at the gym scale (unofficial number) mid-week last week, I was up eight. So this could be worse. A lot worse.

As my nutritionist says to me, "You know what you need to do."

Yep. Exactly what I've done for the last 70 pounds.

I Feel Skinny, Oh So Skinny....

Folks, it's all about the positive reinforcement. I don't know what's going on with the scale.

I'm ignoring it. Until tomorrow, at weigh-in. But even then, it's not getting too much importance.

Two major things happened this week that should trump all else (in terms of my own personal world - not the 'real' world):

1) I broke through a major mental block and started jogging, despite my fear of being too heavy for my poor knees. I did it, and my knees didn't crumble instantaneously into dust.

2) I put on a usually tight'ish pair of jeans for work yesterday that are several sizes smaller than what I was wearing last year at this time. And they are loose. I threw on a nice t-shirt, a v-neck sweater in a beautiful azure color, and bopped off to the office.

It was only after I got there that I realized how nice I felt in my clothes. At the risk of sounding like a vain ninny, I really felt like I looked good.

Maybe that's how South Beach Steve feels in his new suit? He totally rocks it, by the way.

I'm not "skinny," by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not even close to my goal weight.

But if you are comparing me to how I was 70 lbs ago, then yeah...I am way slimmed down. A few people even commented yesterday that I looked really great. I think the fact that I was projecting positivity plays a role here, too.

So it's damn the miserly scale, and full speed ahead! Something must be going right, because I do believe the inches are coming off, even if the pounds aren't.

On that note, I want to ask some jogging questions of all you runners out there. I just posted this query on Lori's blog, because she's a kick-butt runner and racer. But then I figured I'd throw it up here for others to opine on.

Here's my question:

Any advice on how to ease into running so you don't irritate bad knees? When I say bad, I don't mean ripped or torn ligaments, etc...Just stressed knees, prone to inflammation. I did tear a meniscus last year and my left knee has never fully recovered, but it's fully functional - just gets a little achy sometimes. But the doc last year said I have good cartilage, no real serious damage, I may just have a few bone chips that float around and irritate me now and again. Obviously, losing weight is the best thing I can do for my knees, long term.

When I jogged last week, I did have pain afterwards -- inflammation and irritation and aches in the knees and hips for about two days. My muscles weren't sore -- my bones were! Is this possibly a sign that I'm still too heavy for running, or should I push through? What say all you runners out there?

Any suggestions and feedback are really appreciated. I'd like to start developing my superhero powers beyond vigilance. I'm also looking for speed and agility. Yeah!

That Stubborn Scale

I hate that chunk of metal.

It popped up a few pounds after Thanksgiving.

OK -- that was expected, given what I ate.

But now it won't go down.

Wait, it gets worse...

It keeps climbing up!

NOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo!

I've been trying not to panic, because when I stress it only gets harder.

Hence all my positive superhero imagery these past few days. And my sudden interest in Herculean, epic nighttime jogs through Central Park.

I've been trying to talk myself out of a major freakout.

A few pounds were going to register on the scale, that was inescapable. But I figured they'd be the kind of pounds that would go away quickly too.

But they won't leave!

And now they've invited friends over -- and they ALL want to stay.

If anyone of you is a Quentin Tarantino/Pulp Fiction fan, you'll know that scene toward the end where Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) keeps telling Yolanda to "Be Cool."

Not only am I a superhero, and a nascent jogger/marathoner, I am now also Samuel L. Jackson. That's right. When I get nervous, I channel multiple personalities.

Since I saw the damage Monday afternoon on the gym scale, I just keep telling myself to "Be Cool."

And when I saw the scale go UP another pound instead of down despite two days of clean eating, and then up ANOTHER pound the next day, my inner Samuel said, "Be Cool."

So this is me -- being cool.

No more weigh-ins until Monday, when I go to the official scale under the control of the nutritionist.

It'll be ok. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will be. Right?

Ow. Ow. Ow.

Ouch.

My knees, my knees, my knees are on fire.

Now I remember why I wasn't going to start jogging yet.

Owwwwwwwwww. My poor knees.

To be honest, I don't have really bad pain, like a serious tear or twist or anything like that. It's just some inflammation and stiffness.

I forgot what that feels like. That's what my knees used to feel like all the time before I lost 70lbs.

I'm still basking in the glow of my two mile jog. Whoo hoo! I really surprised myself.

But...that said, I'm not sure I'm ready for regular jogs yet. I am askeered of really banging up my poor little knee joints. Maybe I'll try once a week and build up to more?

I really don't want to injure myself seriously at this point. That would be awful. Better to be slow and safe than rush things and get hurt. The left knee in particular has never been the same since my torn meniscus.

It's so exciting though! I almost kind of wanted to try and jog home again tonight despite my knee soreness.

It was raining though -- a real rain, not one I was going to slog through.

I did manage to walk to work this morning despite getting a terribly late start (really, I swear, it wasn't my fault - the boiler broke at my co-op, so no heat or hot water, which was awful).

I had a couple of rough moments debating what to do. Should I text my boss and tell him I was going to be 20 minutes late?

I'd only be late if I stuck to my plan and walked to work. If I took the subway, I'd get there with time to spare. We don't have to do a timeclock or anything crazy like that at work -- it's fairly flexible -- but he's been on me of late to start getting in by 10:30am. (Amazing that we start so late by most American business standards and yet I still struggle to get there on time!)

The dithering started -- what if he's mad at me, etc etc. I almost ditched my walk just so I wouldn't have to risk setting off his legendary temper.

Then I thought, no, forget that. We're talking 20 minutes -- there's nothing urgent going on this morning, he'll survive. Text him and tell him you are running late but will be in before 11am. He'll get over it.

So I did, and he did, and it wasn't a big deal at all. Come to think of it, my knees weren't that aggravated this morning, but did start to bother me at work after my very fast trek down to the office.

I tried to go extra fast to mitigate the lateness; maybe that overdid it after the jog the night before?

I'll monitor carefully before my next jog.

As for my Vigilance-Girl cape, it's still working! I highly recommend getting one and wearing it AT ALL TIMES. Remember, nobody can see it but you. ; -]

So...tired

But for a totally surprising and unbelievable reason.

I could just tell you straight out, but that's no fun. There have to be photos, of course!

OK, first the update on yesterday. I really was Vigilance-Girl, channeling a little bit of Peridot's Resistance-Girl.

It started with my plan to go to Whole Foods. I was going to walk there and go to the gym later. But when I left the house, it very quickly started raining. Ick.

That could have derailed me right away, but I said "No, turn around, go back to the gym, and work out now, since it's raining."

So I did it. It sucked. I hated that elliptical machine. But I could tell I'd gained some weight over Thanksgiving; I felt heavy and flat.

After the gym, I said "To heck with the rain. It's just a drizzle." And I walked the 1.2 miles over to Whole Foods anyway.

On the way through Central Park I decided to alter my route. Instead of walking up the long, slow incline, I decided to hit the stairs that go up the back of Harlem Hill. There's a really cool old gunnery house up there built before the Revolutionary War. It's awesome.

Here are the steps. And guess what? I didn't walk up them. I ran up them!
They are not steep. But there's about seven of them, and I ran all the way up, even the flat parts in between. At the top were two homeless guys hanging out. They looked like I scared them -- which I probably did!

That was yesterday. So today I walked to work, as usual. But I tried to go really fast, like South Beach Steve does, and not get all dreamy and slow when my mind wanders. I was being Vigilance-Girl again, making sure I was really moving and not just coasting.

Work was ... well, whatever. But I got to the gym for some quick weight lifting.

But I had to stay late at work, and that was annoying. It made it too late for me to get to the gym for a night work out.

I decided to walk home instead. It was GORGEOUS!

The park was lovely, dark and deep.

The moon was incredibly bright tonight -- and so full. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out that great. Still, here 'tis.

It was dark and crisp as I walked along. Except for the part where I passed this:
These are the lights near Tavern on the Green, a fabu restaurant on the western edge of the park.

Then, as I passed the beautiful Xmas lights, and I realized it was dark and nobody was really around me, and I was coming up on the start of the bridle path that's dirt and not pavement...well, it just struck me that maybe I could start to jog a little bit.

A jog. I used to do it all the time.

I had on a bulky jacket and a backpack. But I figured, what the heck...I'll give it a shot.

So I started.

And it wasn't that bad. Even though I was going slightly uphill all the time, I could keep jogging.

I kept jogging. I passed the footbridge I had originally pegged as my goal.

Still felt good, so I still kept jogging.

Then I got up the definitive hill before the reservoir. I had to run past some people then. I felt slightly embarrassed, then said "To heck with it -- they aren't even paying any attention." I did speed up a little bit though -- my ego demanded it.

Once I got to the reservoir, I kinda thought, "Well, this is the bottom of the reservoir. I could keep going 'til I reach the top of it." That wasn't too hard. And from there, it was only another 1/2 mile or so to the end of the bridle path, and near the edge of the park where I rejoin the paved road.

I still can't actually believe it, but I jogged the whole way. THE WHOLE WAY!

I'm not really sure, but I think it was around two miles -- maybe a little less.

My knees are going to be barking tomorrow, I'm sure. But wow! I can't believe I did it.

By the way, I did use my Vigilance-Girl cape at work today. When I walked by the snack table someone had put out Reese's peanut butter cups. Oh lordy...those are bad.

But I grabbed my imaginary cape and swirled it around my head, and just kept going on.

Silly, but effective!