Party time!

Someone around here is very puffy eyed and feeling the effects of a little too much fun.  But even in the midst of all the parties, pizza and baseball I have kept my exercise routine on track.  Can't say the same about the food and drink but nobody's perfect, right?  On Thursday I finally made it to the gym for the first time since the 1/2 marathon.  I did a 3 mile run on the treadmill followed by legs/shoulders/core for strength training.  I managed all my leg and shoulder exercises without too much discomfort. 

Thursday night kicked off what turned out to be a party weekend.  I went to a Mom's Night Out and got to drink some wine and hang out with some super cool ladies.  I kept the drinking to just a few glasses but did end up munching at the cheese/crackers/brownie table despite my pre-party goal to avoid it.

Friday morning was weigh-in, 146.6 pounds.  Up 1 pound.  Not bad considering.  I wish the 1 pound gain inspired me to start eating clean and get back down but no such luck.

Friday's gym visit was 25 minutes on the upright bike followed by chest/triceps/core.  The upright bike kicked.my.ass.  But I got through it by telling myself that strength training was all upper body so I could wring my legs out on the bike and still survive.  I did my strength training routine and finally got to try out a couple new tricep exercises I've been eying.  The first is Lying Barbell Tricep Extensions. I had the trainer who was at the front desk show me how to do them with the curvy bar.  For the first set I put two 5lb weights on the bar.  But that was way too hard so for the 2nd and 3rd sets I put 2.5lb weights on.  I really liked this exercise.  So I'm dropping tricep kickbacks with dumbbells in exchange for this.

I also changed up my dips.  I was doing them on a bench with my feet on the floor.  But now I'm doing them with my feet up in the air too. It's too hard to describe so I'll just post a picture.

At first I thought these wouldn't be that much harder than with my feet on the floor but after a few sets I could feel the difference. 

That evening we took the kids to a Halloween party at their new pre-school.  The kids ran around for over an hour without stopping.  And I ate a ton of party food, including pumpkin pie and various other yummies.  The kids were easy to put to bed that night.  Miguel had his poker buddies over for a game and I stayed up watching TV.  That night the food frenzy came to a peak when I drove to Taco Bell and got two of the new Doritos tacos.  All the ads during the World Series finally got to me.  The good news is I wasn't a fan.  Of course that didn't stop me from eating both of them.  And I kept going back to the Cheezits that are supposed to be for the kids.  So I finally put the rest of the Costco sized bag down the garbage disposal, "the kids don't need this over-processed crap anyway" is how I justified the waste.

Saturday I woke up to a very stiff neck.  I couldn't even turn my head completely to the side. It was probably the dips.  But I was still functional enough so I met my buddy Michelle and her kids downtown for the local business trick-or-treating.  That was fun but exhausting wrangling two kids on my own in the midst of all the chaos.  And my neck just wouldn't quit so I kept popping the ibuprofen.

That night I had a Halloween themed wine party to attend.  So clever, they did a "scary" wine tasting, all wines under $5.  Scary indeed. But the party was fun - a great group of people and fabulous hosts.  As the evening wore on I got a little tipsy and next thing you know we're being driven to a local bar with a live band.

A couple shots of tequila later and I was feeling no pain.  We danced until we couldn't and headed for home around 1am.  So much fun!!!!  And so grateful for late night taxis.  I ate a couple pieces of bread when I got home, hoping that would help keep my stomach happy in the morning, and was probably asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Woke with a headache but other than that, generally felt ok.  I thought I might actually be able to go to the gym later in the day.  Lord knows I needed it after all the food and drink I've been enjoying.  And lo and behold I did.  I walked in the gym with an attitude of, "well, we'll just have to see how this goes."  I thought running might push me over the hangover edge but I was able to do my full three miles, even with a few 7.0mph intervals thrown in.  After that I did back/biceps/core work.  My shoulder gave me a tiny bit of trouble but for the most part I could do my full workout.

That night we went out AGAIN.  A friend invited us to her place for a Game 4 World Series gathering.  We love Wendy and Victor so how could we miss that?!  We couldn't.  And so glad we didn't.  It was a great time with the kids off playing with all the other kids and Miguel and I watching the game, having a few glasses of wine (or in his case beer) and eating.  They had Costco pizza, which I can't eat (because I looked up the calories once and almost died!).  So I brought a hi-tech curry shrimp burrito for myself.  That didn't stop me from eating tons of chip and dip though.  And rice krispie treats.  And chocolate chip cookies.  Hey, stop looking at me like that!

And the Giants swept Detroit to win the World Series for the 2nd time in three years.  Woo hoo!!!  Wendy and I ran in the streets screaming.  Which was bizarrely difficult, by the way.  I'm going to the parade on Wednesday...I can't wait!

And that brings us to today.  I'm feeling a bit haggard, having more fun than I can handle.  Heck, I'm in my 40's not 20's, all this partying is not my usual style. So today it's back on the healthy routine.  I'm hoping if I pull myself together I can avoid another gain this week despite the massive calorie intake this weekend.  Oh, and so far - not ONE piece of Halloween candy.  Not one.