The #9 Cloud

Recently my husband told me I'm like a whole new woman.  Those aren't the exact words he used, but you get the idea.  At first I didn't think much of it but it kept popping back into my head and the more I thought about it,  the more it hit me, I am like a whole new woman. And I'm not only talking appearance here, I feel different, I behave different, I think different.  In some fundamental ways, I'm still the same me as before, but in some other equally fundamental ways, I'm different.  Anyway, I'm not looking to do an in-depth analysis of all this yet but I can say that one thing that's changed about me is the drive I have to get out there and live.  Maybe it's from years of sitting on the sidelines, being on the bench and out of the game.  Or maybe it's just because there's nothing holding me back anymore - not only can I do a lot more than I ever did before, but I want to, and more importantly, I am.

And sometimes that's as simple as having a great day.  And today was one of those days.  I had almost too much fun on the bike but by the time I got around to doing my strength training I was totally fired up.  I had to stop myself from dancing between every set.  Sometimes I didn't stop myself.  The good thing was, the gym was almost empty so I didn't embarrass myself too badly.  I did chest/triceps/core.  I've stepped things up in the pushup department.  Instead of doing 12, 10 and 8 reps I upped it to 20, 15 and 12.  Big jump, right?  I just felt capable, and I was.  And I added weight to the Lying Barbell Tricep Extensions, up to 10 pounds from 5.  That was a real challenge but I muscled through (hee hee).

So can you tell I was in a good mood?  Nothing like a post-body-moving exercise high.  There's a catch, though.  Ain't there always?  I was starve-ING when I left the gym.  I'd hardly eaten since breakfast and now it was late afternoon.  I know - poor planning on my part.  I came home and had a string cheese and shared an avocado with Myra (that I mostly ate) and then had a taquito.  Healthy lunch, right?  But food was still on the brain and I was in the mood for something...bad.  Fried chicken should do the trick.  I'd been wanting it since Christmas Eve for some reason.  So we had KFC for dinner.  I had two crispy thighs and skipped all the sides.  I figured if I wanted chicken I should just eat chicken - no reason to add to the madness by eating all the other stuff.  Oh, and I managed to find two bite sized chocolates so I ate those too.

After dinner I felt a sort of bleh feeling that I will blame on the bleh food choices.  But no matter, I remember my fabulous mood from earlier today so I'll just reminisce about that to keep me happy.   So, what's on tap for this weekend, you ask?  Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to Laurie's house for a little socializing.  Not sure what else we'll do with our day but hopefully something fun.  And Sunday Miguel has a soccer game in the morning so that means I'll be doing my long run in the afternoon, hopefully with my buddy Catherine.  Those longs runs are SO much more enjoyable with company.  Who knew? 

Still working on some New Year goals.  They are definitely going to involve the races I have planned, maybe something related to my body fat percentage.  I might make a goal or two NOT related to health and fitness, imagine that!, but I have a little space in my mind to think about other things too now.  Really, these are all icing. The health of my kids and family, my own health, having all my basic needs met, love and being loved - I'm so lucky.  I know that, and I try not to forget that when I get caught up in all the other complexities of life.