I Begin Training and Clean Up My Act

So it's official, I signed up for the Quad City Half Marathon on September 25th. That's not much of a horizon and I have done some serious slacking since Racine (July). During my period of slothitude that lasted from approximately July 18th to mid August, I learned that, like many runners, I crave the structure of a training program.

This morning I slogged through 6.61 miles by myself. To make things interesting I drove to downtown, parked my car and ran a different route -- over to Washington Park (drinking fountains and bathrooms) and back. There are a few respectable hills. Overall the run went well, maybe it was just the change of scenery more than anything. I really intended for this to be a little over 7 miles but was meeting Reindeer Mary for coffee at 8 and didn't get my ass out of bed early enough.

We had a great breakfast at Cafe Moxo in downtown Springfield. Mary's out for a while with what may possibly be a Morton's Neuroma and some nerve damage to her foot (can't believe that girl toughed out a half marathon with all this going on). Then perused the Old Capitol Farmers Market.

I recently decided to clean up my diet. Nothing too fancy, mostly just minimize or eliminate processed food, more fruits and vegetables ---- you know the story. My goal is to drop about ten pounds. After a week I have lost zero. But I feel a little better, maybe less like a bloated cow. My rings are looser on my fingers.

Couple of things I did this week:

• Made some grilled chicken using a marinade of honey, vinegar and herbs (delicious). The chicken came from a local farm, supposedly the chickens get to eat grass and bugs and other stuff that chickens are meant to eat. The honey is from a farm just up the road. Not sure if it's just me but I did think the chicken tasted better.
• Started using sea salt in place of the finely ground "regular" salt
• Using plain yogurt -- delicious mixed with fresh fruit. Makes wonderful smoothies (add a little orange juice or honey for sweetness)
• Made some spaghetti sauce from scratch (and broke food processor in the process :( )
• Picked up a loaf of whole grain bread from a local bakery