Yes. I know.

Your nose is stuffy.

Your eyes are tired.

Your sneezes sound like they come from the depths of your soul.

Despite all of this, you are NOT dying. You have felt much worse. Don’t talk yourself out of the treadmill.

You’ve gotten on the treadmill and run a 10k when you had a sinus infection. Remember that? Yeah. I do.

Just get on the treadmill. Start with two miles. If you feel good, go for 2.5. If you feel good…

You’re smart. You get the picture.

You already skipped your morning run. Don’t skip your speedwork, too.

I never watch it when it’s actually on. I think there’s something else on…or it’s a weird time or something. I’m currently catching up on Season 2 on DVD. It’s my show of choice while I’m running on the treadmill.

I’m also from Ohio. I know a little bit about the geography and climate there.

That’s why two things from Season 2 are really bugging me.

(Warning: If you don’t watch Glee, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about. If you do watch Glee, please don’t leave any spoilers in the comments. I love living in a state of oblivion.)

First, I don’t think someplace as far north as Lima, Ohio would have an outdoor cafeteria like they have shown a couple times this season at good ol’ William McKinley High School. I would imagine that it wouldn’t get much use the majority of the school year because of crap Ohio weather.

Secondly, I have to question the location of the other glee club that is featured in the show: The Dalton Academy Warblers. They put Dalton in Westerville, Ohio. And, evidently, Dalton is a boarding school. Westerville is a good 1.5 hour drive from Lima.

When they sent Kurt to Dalton because of the bullying he was getting at McKinley and then had the two schools battle it out at Sectionals, I laughed out loud, for several reasons:

1. There’s no way that Westerville and Lima are close enough to be in a first level competition.
2. With the drive, it’s highly unlikely that people would be seeing Kurt as often as they do. For goodness sake, they had Mr. Schuester drive up there to ask for advice on a Christmas present. That’s an 1.5 hour drive to ask for advice. Dumb.
3. When they said that Blaine’s crush was a guy who worked at a mall in Lima…again, how often would Blaine be making the drive up to Lima to shop at The Gap?

Surely I’m not the only Ohioan (current or former) who has noticed this?

Even if I am, please lie to me and tell me that I’m super observant and don’t actually deserve to be Slushied because of my total geekdom.

Now, I have to admit, I went into this with my head a little inflated. I think we do pretty good at the grocery. So I went ahead asked, and this is what I got…

Emma

• milk
• eggs
• coffee
• waffles
• pizza (once in a blue moon I’ll buy a frozen pizza…which was last week)
• cereal
• cheesesticks
• meat
• red rice stuff that’s in the meat section and looks like worms (I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about)
• granola bars

Jacob

• cheesesticks
• yogurt
• cereal
• fruit
• vegetables

While Jacob’s list isn’t too bad, I was a little shocked with Emma’s. First off, I don’t feed my kids worms so I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about. Secondly, she didn’t list a single fruit or vegetable.

I buy fruit, people. Lots of it. They have a piece of fruit at least once a day (I wish it were more) when they pack their lunches. We have a vegetable every night for dinner! WHY DIDN’T SHE LIST ANY FRUIT OR VEGETABLES?

I feel like a Bad Mommy Health and Fitness Funny Blogger.

It’s been a bit of a crazy week. You know what that means, right? BULLET POINTS!!

• I have gotten up every morning this week and walked a mile.
• I have completed every workout this week.

Then there are days like today when the confidence shines through and you just do it on your first try ever.

Third week of class, first time in the harness, only one in the class that can do it…

My legs were sore, it was cold, and my inner child was throwing a mini tantrum.

But I recognize that I have to figure out a way to get this long run in. For whatever reason (mainly because I just don’t do it), long runs don’t happen for me on the weekends. If there’re other people around, I just don’t work out. Even if we’re getting along, I’d rather spend time with my family than spend time working out.

So, I headed out. I actually felt pretty good the first couple miles. But by mile three I could tell that I had gone out to fast.

I passed a guy running, we waved, and I kept on going. But soon, the mental demons started setting in.

My legs suddenly felt like lead. I kept telling myself just get to the next half mile. But eventually, even that didn’t do it.

My knee started hurting with each step. I tried to keep going, but it just got to the point where I felt like I couldn’t run anymore. So I started to walk.

I had been walking for a couple of minutes when I passed the same runner that I had seen before. I think I must’ve had a look on my face like I was having some problems, because he said something interesting to me as we passed.

“Isn’t it great that we have a chance to get outside with weather like this in February?”

And he was right. The sun was shining, the temperature wasn’t too horrible, and it was altogether a pretty nice day.

So I decided to try and enjoy the last mile. I didn’t worry too much if I felt llike I had to walk, because at least I was outside.

I didn’t worry too much if my knee was bothering me, because I knew I could stretch when I got home.

I didn’t worry too much that the run hadn’t gone like I had hoped, because I knew this was just one run of many.

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.  ~John Lubbock

It’s grading time!

Four weeks ago, I made a committment to try morning workouts for…wait for it…FOUR WEEKS! I also promised to honestly evaluate my progress. No excuses here, just the facts.

For those four weeks, I would rate myself slightly above average. One of the biggest reasons I didn’t do better was because I quite possibly picked the WORST four weeks to try out a new plan. Between vacation and oral surgery, I was definitely not keeping my usual schedule.

But while I didn’t get up everyday at 5:30 while I was on vacation, I did workout way more than I ever have while on vacation. That’s why I’m giving myself a slightly above average score.

The way I look see it, there are only a few things I didn’t do to follow my plan 100%:

• I didn’t always sleep in my workout clothes. There were a few nights where I simply forgot. While I did get up in the morning and put them on, I wasn’t able to get down to the treadmill as early as I wanted.
• I still wait until Dave leaves before I get on the treadmill. Not a huge, huge issue, but it does get me on the treadmill later and I feel like I don’t have time to do the short runs or the strength workouts. I’m not sure why spending those few extra minutes away from him is such a huge mental block.
• I’m entirely too concerned about making sure I have some computer time AFTER the treadmill but BEFORE the kids get up. I’m once again forgoing fitness for technology.

Other than that, I’m pretty proud of the strides that I have made. This is definitely something that I want to keep up with. I’ve noticed a difference in how my day flows on the mornings when I get the early morning walk in.

So, I’m going to give it 4 more weeks. I don’t have any travel or surgeries in the next 4 weeks so this will give me a real shot and making this work!

Your legs are sore, but otherwise you feel okay.

Listen to your body, adjust your plan. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Stop comparing yourself to other people and do what’s right for you.

And as far as that little candy fest last night goes, move on. It’s over, you can’t change it, move on. Just don’t do it again today.