**Days 351 & 352**

My sister and I did the Reindeer Run 5k today, and it was the hardest race I've done, so far.  It was a trail run, and it kicked my butt!  We ran in the woods, on open farmland, a gravel road, and we dealt with ice and mud - I almost lost my shoe, at one point, because it got stuck in the mud.  It took us forever to finish the race!  I complained through the whole thing because I spent the entire time trying not to fall or break an ankle - my sister is a saint for putting up with me!  I now have a sore ankle, a sore heel, and a sore back, BUT I'm glad I did the race because it was a real challenge for me, and I finished it.  Plus, my sister and I spent alot of time laughing - so it was a good time, too!

Here's my time:

Shannon D'Amico  284  0:52:11.5   39

And a few pics:

 Behind the cars is one of the open fields we ran in

  Ran on gravel

 Ran out in those woods

AWFUL picture of me, but my Do Life shirt looks great!  You can get one here!  

**Days 348, 349, & 350**

It's almost 1am, so very, very early Friday, and I'm still up, and probably won't be going to bed anytime soon!  I've been working around my house non-stop for the last two days.  We're having two parties this weekend, and for some crazy reason we started to redecorating one of my daughter's bedrooms, so, of course, I wanted it done before our first party tonight.  We painted her room, tore off the old trim, bought new trim that needed to be painted before we put it on, painted a bookcase and a chair, hung pictures, hooks, and a cork board, and, finally, had to assemble her new loft bed, but we finished it all around midnight.  In addition to doing her room I had to clean my whole house, do laundry and, of course, go shopping for all the food, and stuff, for the parties.  I am exhausted, and my feet and back have been killing me for two days, and you know what's coming.........I haven't exercised in two days.  At first, I was really bummed that I wasn't going to reach my goal of exercising everyday this month, but I'm kind of over it.  It's not like I've been sitting around doing nothing, and I know I'll get back to my exercising tomorrow, since all my work around here is done.

Something really embarrassing happened a few days ago - me and my fatness broke my scale!  I got it Tuesday morning to check out my weight, and as soon as I stepped on it I heard a loud crack!  I was like - WTF?!  I stepped off it, but didn't see anything broken, so I picked it, and gave it a shake, and something was rattling around inside it.  I stepped back on it, and a lovely number appeared - 216.  Ummm, I know I've been doing great with my workouts this month, and I've been eating really good, BUT there's no way I'm 216 pounds!  So, while I would love to be able to go with that number....I can't.  My scale is broken, and I'm going to have to buy a new one.  I do have an analog scale here, but I really liked the digital scale, so I'll get another soon.  We only have two weeks left in December, so I'm going to hold off on weighing in until Dec. 31st.  I'm still going for my goal of losing 12 pounds this month - we'll see what happens.  I'm going to work hard for it!

Have a great weekend!

**Day 347**

I attended a wake tonight for a family friend - he was the best man at my parent's wedding, and friends with my parents for over 40 years.  He was diagnosed with cancer just six months ago, and lost the battle a few days ago - he was 63 years old.  Very sad.  We went out to eat afterwards, and I was more than ready to do some emotional eating.  I shouldn't have, but I did.  I ordered potato soup, a tenderloin sandwich and fries. I
had less than half of the potato soup, and I took the bun off the tenderloin, and then ate about half of the tenderloin - the soup and tenderloin turned out to not be all that good, but if it had been I probably would've shoved it all down!  The fries were good, so I did eat more than half of them.  And I've only had 48 ounces of water, so not a great day for me.  I did manage to force myself to get on my treadmill when I got home.  My plan was to walk 20 minutes, but I pushed myself and did 30 minutes:

Tomorrow is a new day, and I will do much better with my eating.

**Day 346**

I completed this challenge:

Yay!!  I've exercised every day for the last 12 days, and it feels so good!!  I'm going to keep it going - I plan to exercise every day this month, so 12 down, and 19 to go.  I can do it.  I will do it!

I was back on the treadmill tonight - another 35 minutes:

It's going to be a busy week, so it will be a challenge for me to get my workouts in, but I will find the time!

**Day 345**

I did a 35 minute walk/run on the treadmill - more running than walking! :)

I did some short-burst interval training runs at 5.0 and 6.0 mph for 30 seconds at a time!  That's fast for me - ha!  I was a sweaty mess when I was done - it was a great workout!

I'll be participating in my fifth 5k next Sunday, and I've done no training outside! Dumb, dumb, dumb!!  Sunday's race should be interesting!  

**Day 344**

I did 25 minutes on the treadmill last night.  I, accidentally, pulled the safety cord out right at the end, which, of course, shuts down the treadmill, AND wipes the current data, so I can't start it again from where I left off!!!  I can't tell you how many times I have done this - it ticks me off!!  However, I can pull up my past workouts in the "My Maps" on the treadmill, but it doesn't store the calories I burned, but I took my picture, and then restarted and finished my last two minutes.  Anyway, here's the good news!  I was going to walk/run 20 minutes, and I planned to walk 3 minutes, run 2 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 2 minutes, etc., but when it came to the end of my first 2 minute run I just decided to keep on running, and I continued to run for the rest of the workout without stopping - well, except for when I pulled the power cord (dang it!!!).  I ran for 22 minutes - it felt really good to push myself!!

Tonight, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill - yup, that's it.  There was no pushing myself tonight - some days it's there, and some days it's not! 

I was good on my calories today, but, not so good, with my water.  I'm working on getting another 24 ounces now!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

**Day 343**

Last Friday I weighed 229.  Today, I weigh:

5 pound loss!!!  Yay!  I kicked butt this week!  Now, I just need to keep it going!  Weekends are hard for me, so I know the next few days will be a challenge, but I can do it!

Have a wonderful weekend!