5K Registration and Progress

This morning I registered from my first 5K of 2012! I'll be run/walking the Run for the Oaks in Raleigh, NC. I'm excited about having this accomplishable goal. Although I've registered for a couple of spring half marathons, they seem a little out of reach right now. But a 5K?! Ahhhhh! I'm smiling as I type! I've run this race before, and it's a good one. The weather's usually pretty good, and it's a well-run race. A couple of years ago, I organized a team from work for the corporate team competition that coincides with this race, and we came in 3rd place in the open women's division! That was pretty darn neat! We got a plaque at the post-race awards ceremony, even! (Okay, so there were only three women's teams entered, but it was still fun!) It gets better. There's a series of spring and summer races with this corporate team event, and we ended up taking 3rd place for the whole series, along with another plaque AND a $35 check to split between us! All this happened because we showed up and had fun. So yep, we're working on doing this again!
In other news, the Get Moving Challenge at work is going well, best I can tell. Several of us have started taking walk breaks together at work, and that's been fun! My plantar fasciitis is acting up now, though, so I need to be more consistent about treating it at home.

I'm still on the Engine 2 28-Day Challenge, and have gone 2.5 days without cheese! Wow! I've lost 2.6 pounds since Monday, so that should tell me something.

A New Week

I'm turning over a new leaf today! I'm starting on a new "way of eating" today, and I've already been to the gym this morning. Okay, I might be feeling a little smug!

There are a couple of things at work here. The Whole Foods Market near work has started an Engine 2 23-Day Challenge, which starts today. Also, the 10-week "Get Moving Challenge" starts at work TODAY, and I'm the team captain of the Bookworms again!

So, last night I shopped at two different grocery stores, trying to find all the ingredients for a couple of vegan recipes. (The "Engine 2 Diet" is a "plant-strong" diet.) I still didn't find everything, so I'm going to have to hit Whole Foods after work. I bet they have everything on my initial list, but I was hoping to go a little more cheaply. Grocery shopping is one of my least favorite things to do, so I'm hoping it gets easier with practice to buy healthier foods. Convenience has gotten the best of me, and I need to reverse the effects, despite being busy with work and graduate school!!

Stay tuned!

Engine 2 Diet: Who's Tried It?

It's that time of year again. Duke's employee wellness program is promoting another "Get Moving Challenge," starting on January 23. Employees across campus can sign up and join teams, tracking weight loss, exercise minutes, and/or walking steps for 10 weeks, ending April 1. Once we start recording in those three categories, we can see how we fare against other teams, so there's a bit of the competition element going on, too. Our team is called the Bookworms, because we work for the campus library system. :-)

Meanwhile, our local Whole Foods Market is starting a Engine 2 Twenty-Eight-Day Challenge, and it happens to start-guess when-on January 23! You have to register by January 15, and I'm thinking about it. It's a vegan diet, which can be a challenge, but I've done it before, so I'm pretty intrigued by the thought of trying it again. 28 days. Hmmm. Apparently this 28-day challenge is something promoted on the Engine 2 Diet website, and they've (smartly) teamed up with Whole Foods.

So, I've bought the Engine 2 Diet book by Rip Esselstyn, and it's the first Kindle version of a book that I've purchased, which adds to the fun. (I received an iPad 2 for Christmas from my awesome sister, Lisa, and the Kindle app on the iPad makes me feel like I'm reading on a Kindle!) I've also been exploring the website, as well as YouTube, which has a number of videos about the Engine 2 Diet. In fact, I watched one this evening, done by the author of the book, where he discusses "Prep Week." Much of Prep Week involves cleaning out the pantry and refrigerator of bad foods. He also suggests, in the video, a kitchen gadget he calls the Microplaner, which is actually a Microplane zester/grater. I looked it up on Amazon, and was about to order one, when I decided to check our kitchen drawers. Lo and behold, I found one! It's in great shape, too. :-) While I was going through the drawers, I decided to go ahead and toss some stuff and get them more organized. It's a start.

Here's the "Prep Week" video (click on the blue hyperlink to view), which has motivated me to start organizing the kitchen. (Hey, that's worth it, right?!) Meanwhile, I'm hoping the contest at work, and maybe this Engine 2 Challenge, will help with the winter-time (cold+dark early) motivation to eat right and exercise through the weeks ahead. My plans to run or walk the Tobacco Road Half Marathon are in jeopardy. Here's to a jumpstart!

Third Workout in a Row

It's back to work for me tomorrow, so I hit the gym again today, my third workout in a row. To be honest, I wasn't really into it today. I stuck it out for 25 minutes on the recumbent bike, coaxing myself through 5-minute segments. Then I did some hammer curls, bicep curls, and shoulder presses with 5-lb dumbbells. Still bleh. Now that I'm home, I'm glad I did it. But I'm not used to three days of exercise in a row, and I felt it in the workout. Maybe I just need to shake things up a little bit. And maybe I need some rest.