(Blech)xercise...No Excuses

I know it's been forever since I've posted, but trust me, I haven't forgotten about my little blog! Every few days I evaluate my eating habits at school and think, "Oh...I should put this on my blog..." So here's a recap of my school's cuisinary events:

Good Things:
1. I still haven't eaten lunch from the cafeteria! Hooray!!

Bad Things: (that's right folks, not many good things lately...)
1. A few weeks ago our school held a fundraiser at TGIFridays. All the teachers ordered lunch out and instead of a killer salad I ordered Bufallo Chicken Wings. I'm a sucker for fried chicken and I felt very guilty after that lunch!
2. The teachers also had a football food day in the lounge on the Friday before the UK/UofL game...I gave in! I don't even remember what I ate from the lounge, but I know it was sinfully good. Forgive me!
3. Okay, so I said I didn't eat lunch from the cafeteria and that's still true, but one day last week I was having a HORRIBLE day, and they were having cheeseburgers.....I debated all day whether or not to get one lunch from the cafeteria. I rationalized it like this: I haven't had a cafeteria lunch for seven weeks, I've saved lots of money, and maybe I could just start having one cafeteria lunch a month. I went downstairs and came so close to buying the lunch, but instead I just bought a small bowl of those heavenly crinkle fries and took them upstairs to eat with my sandwich. I called it my "bad day treat" and I was still able to stick to my vow - sort of.

So those are the big moments from the last four weeks or so. I also found out that our cafeteria (and all cafeterias in Fayette County) don't actually fry anything. All the tater tots and french fries are baked, so I guess that's good. They also switched to whole wheat buns and rolls which I'm really happy about. I don't think the kids even noticed! Hooray for healthy food!

As for (blech)xercising, I have to write a little bit about my first day of "running," and I use the term very loosely! I have some friends, Laura and Pete, who are the healthiest, runniest people I know and ever since they started running together and Laura started looking all skinny and beautiful (not that she didn't before, she's always been lovely, but none of her old clothes fit her anymore and now she's smokin' hot!) I've been feeling fat and lumpy. The best part about Pete and Laura is they didn't let me make any excuses about exercising. Here's a quick version of the conversations we've been having over the last couple weeks:

ME: I need to start walking or running again. It would be so much easier if I had one of those watches with a timer on it.
LAURA: Here, have my old one. I don't need it anymore.

ME: Well, I would have started running today, but I don't have an armband for my new ipod, so I might just wait until I get one.
LAURA: (calling from her car) I just left TJMAXX and they have ipod armbands on sale for 5.99! Now you don't have to wait to get one.

ME: Well, I would have started running yesterday, but I don't really have any running clothes. Just one pair of shorts and a tank top that's probably too small for me anyway. I'll have to wait until I get some good running clothes.
PETE: Hey, why don't I just look through my attic for some old samples that will fit you. (He works for a fitness store)

DAMN IT!! WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE? There's just no excuses! So what did I do today? I went to TJMAXX and bought me a stupid arm band, I hauled out my one pair of shorts and my tank top that shows all the flab, I strapped on my old pair of sneakers and hit the pavement. Let me tell you...

It was pretty great.

I walked for four minutes and ran for one, thanks to my new timer watch. Walking and running to music changes EVERYTHING! I had so much fun! The weather was gorgeous, my tunes were kickin' and everyone was out on their bikes or going for a run. There was only one time where I was supposed to be running that I had to stop. I was out for about 35 minutes and I tried really hard not to over-do it, because last time I tried to exercise I killed myself the first time out and never went again. So now I'm going to try to walk/run every other day for a couple of weeks, then perhaps start changing the time increments. I'm not a good runner and my face looks like a tomato when I'm done, but it feels good, so I'll do my best to stick to it. I'm sure Laura and Pete aren't going to let me quit.