5K today and my senior citizen pace

This morning started out with some jogging around the Idaho Falls green belt. I committed to run a 5k with my brother on Thanksgiving morning. I've been doing a little jogging here and there but nothing that constitutes as training for a race. I've been getting in lots of time working out but running is it's own animal. There was a time when running 6 miles was no problem for me. I had a route in Pocatello I could confidently run and included some big hills and I could do it in about an hour. My how things have changed!!! Instead of complaining about how long it took me to run a little over 3 miles today I will applaud myself for running all but 1 minute of it. I'm working on positive thinking and positive self talk. I have a horrible habit of beating myself up and would really like to work on that. It does not serve me well and does not change the present, it only keeps me entrenched in the past. I ran an entire 5k today and it was so beautiful. I do not know the last time I ran more than a mile without stopping. This run around IF was amazing. The leaves were all changing colors and the river was so beautiful to look at. As we got closer to the Idaho Falls LDS temple I had such fond memories of going through the temple for the first time there. I had memories of walking around the greenbelt with my late friend Hollie many many times. We used to go there and walk and talk for hours. I have memories of rollerblading with my best friend Meagan and trying to teach our friend Julia how to rollerblade and instead we put her in a situation where she crashed really bad and she might still have a huge scar to prove it! We had our workout team and we would rollerblade around the river in the mornings and we all had nicknames for each other. I was Steph the Stallion. To preserve the identity of my other friends I won't reveal their nicknames but they were awesome. Well jogging today was a trip down memory lane. It was also great to talk with my older brother Brad. He has come so far in the past couple years. He has lost over 30 pounds by making exercise a priority in his life. He completed his first triathlon last spring and has challenged his siblings to compete with him this year. He stayed with me the whole time which really meant a lot. Usually when I run with people I'm so slow and they get frustrated and take off, but Brad encouraged me and even let me take a couple breathers after some hills.  It felt really good to push myself and push myself further than I thought I could go.

Today was also full of family activities. Dan and my brother and his wife made a huge breakfast for us and it was delicious. Dan is the breakfast man and can make better pancakes than anyone. When we got back to Utah we had a pumpkin carving party at Dan's sister's house and the company, food, and pumpkin carving was so good and so many levels. It was nice to experiment with enjoying the social gathering without obsessing about food and my feelings of guilt. I really need to work on that!  I know that keeping track of calories is an essential part of weight loss but I would also like to acknowledge the importance of learning to trust yourself and trust your body. To me this means learning to LISTEN to your body- when you are hungry, eat when you are full, stop. When you are at a special occasion, slow down, enjoy the food, enjoy the OCCASION and the company and don't ruin it with feelings of guilt and shame and eating to the point of sickness. It's a process but with the advice of my brother I need to work on a more positive approach to food. His wife is a RD and has so many valuable tips and shared with me some good points and ideas today. She said that keeping your favorite unhealthy foods around is critical to overcoming the desire to gorge on them all the time. The idea of restriction can have a powerful effect on one's psyche. She attended a seminar where a lady said she tells her clients to buy double the amount they of their favorite "bad" food and eat it whenever they want and eventually that food will lose its power and you can feel safe around that food without being afraid to binge on it. I think this is excellent advice. While I'm on the topic this brings up a book called "Intuitive Eating." This is a great book for someone who is working diligently on a healthy relationship with food and has a minimal amount of stress in their life. I don't recommend it for someone to try halfway- it can be dangerous! It is a good read and an interesting perspective on the dangers of "dieting." Well it's late and so I'm going to just do a food journal below because I didn't add up the calories.

Breakfast: 2 whole wheat pancakes with light butter and syrup, 4oz OJ, 1 piece of bacon, scrambled eggs
Lunch: Angel Hair with veggies
Snacks: some Halloween candy on the way home
Dinner: Bread bowls with soup, brownies with ice cream and pumpkin bars....mmmmm