At least I did better on my eating today! This morning I started out with an old staple, my yogurt/cereal/blueberry/flax combo. I’ve been eating this (save for the flax) for a few years and it’s definitely one of the most nutritious lazy breakfasts I can throw together when I’m not feeling like making something grand. This morning I used Publix Wildberry Crumb Cake yogurt…this is my favorite flavor! It’s got a nice kick of berry with some cinnamony sweetness…amazing! I added Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax cereal and a tablespoonish of ground flax. Photo taken after I mixed it all up, because I was just too overzealous to dig in. 
In the early afternoon hours, I went to the park to give C25K Week 6 Day 1 a try. I usually do my running on the indoor track at the Y as I’ve stated before, but since I had good luck on Saturday with my 20-minute run, I decided to try running outside again. Although it’s not as hot and humid as usual, I think it was worse than Saturday. I definitely had a worse time than Saturday, that’s for sure. Over the past couple of days since my W5D3 run, my calves have hurt more than ever. This usually happens after a run, and the pain will subside over a day or two, but I’ve been extremely sore all weekend and yesterday. I figured I’d do my run and they’d stretch themselves out and I’d be fine…I was dead wrong. The pain didn’t hit me really hard until I was halfwayish through, but it was incapacitating and made me slow way down (which, if you’ve seen me “run,” you might ask if that’s actually possible). I made it through all my intervals, but after my last running interval, I could barely even walk. I limped a few yards and found a little sidewalk leading to a bench, so I tried to go stretch my legs (a crouching position helps/hurts the most), but ended up crying too hard to concentrate on stretching. I was so nervous someone would walk by and think I had just gotten attacked or something, but I couldn’t stop sobbing, I was in that much pain. I don’t remember being in pain this bad, ever. I don’t even know how I made it back to the car…it hurt sooooo much to walk!
I’ve found over the years that I walk kind of funny to overcompensate for my ginormous thighs…because they rub together so much, my legs do a lot of the work from the knee down. I think that now that I’m running, I’m not doing enough work above the knee…I don’t feel like I’m working my quads and butt enough, like all of the work to propel this giant amount of weight is happening in my calves. And I’m also worried I pick my feet up at an awkward angle. It’s a very distracting thing to THINK about running while you’re doing it, to try to mentally place every single part of your leg and pay attention to how you’re moving and following through. When I think about it too much, I feel like I’m going to trip! Though today a couple of times when I felt the stabbing in my calves and I altered my stride length, I could tell a difference. I’m just not strong enough to keep that length up the entire time (that’swhatshesaid)!
So, 8 billion words later, I’m in pain, and tomorrow I’m going to the running store to hopefully get to the bottom of this. I really hope it’s just my shoes because A) it would mean I don’t have to re-learn how to walk and then run, and B) I’m shallow and like getting new things. 
After my run, I went to WalMart to get a few things and ended up spending waaaay too much money and time there. Walking around the store definitely hurt, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it had been 15 minutes prior when I was all alone in the woods, begging for the sweet release of death.
When I got home, I was FAMISHED but couldn’t think of anything I wanted to eat. Why is this happening to me so much lately? I was really in the mood for some kind of Italian TV dinner like lasagna or ravioli, but alas, we had none. So what do I grab first? Frozen peas. What the hell is wrong with me that that’s the first thing I go for? It’s so random! At least they’re more nutritious than Hostess cupcakes!
Obviously after finishing these, I was still hungry. I threw together a wrap that had my tahini hummus, some leafy greens, a few Morningstar “chicken” strips, some shredded taco cheese, roasted red peppers, and a little squeeze of yogurt ranch dressing.
All rolled up and ready to be DEVOURED, with a particularly weird-looking red leaf poking out.
And here’s a wonderful treat I found today at WalMart, Skinny Cow peanut butter and chocolate ice cream sandwiches!! Holy crap!
The first few bites tasted a little fakey, but it definitely got better.
Fast forward a few hours to dinner, and mom made an awesome baked eggplant recipe from Weight Watchers! I’m pretty sure you just slice up eggplant, cover it with bottled pasta sauce, top with mozzarella, and bake. It’s pretty darned delicious for relatively few Points!
Here’s my plate with some steamed asparagus featuring spray “butter”:
And for the ever-present dessert, Ben & Jerry’s fro-yo in a sugar cone! I got these today at WalMart and am very happy with how they make me feel like a little kid and help fight portion distortion! (you can’t fit much in them!)
Ugh, I’m being a bad food blogger because awhile after that, I had some Chocolate Dreams peanut butter smeared on an Arnold’s, along with skim + chai. Bad Kat.
Oh I almost forgot, I made a friend on the path at the park today…
This crazy black snake! As I was hobbling/stumbling to the end of the path, I almost stepped on him! I wonder why he’s all ripply? It’s hard to tell, but he was at least two feet long. I’m pretty sure (or I’m talking myself into it) that he was harmless, as I always hear black snakes in these here parts are nice. 
Gosh, one more thing…I think I found my first 5K (shins permitting, of course!)!! I posted about it on Twitter (follow me, please!!!), but it deserves more of an explanation. It’s one of those things where it seems like all signs are pointing me in the direction of this race. Sign #1) it’s at my YMCA, the one I’ve been using week after week to train for a 5K. #2) it’s in late October, about a month after I’m scheduled to finish my C25K Week 9. I wanted to take several weeks after I finished so I could work on increasing my speed. #3) And here’s the big one – it’s called the PUMPKIN RUN!!!! I am an avid lover of all things pumpkin…it’s one of those things that makes my insides all gooey and my head all swimmy. Just the other day I bought two fall-scented Febreze room sprays and have used them more than is probably socially acceptable. I burn this candle just about every day. I get all sweaty and nervous like a 13-year-old boy at a dance when I think about Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes and Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale. So, putting it lightly, I’m a big fan of pumpkin. I really hope I’ll be ready in time to run this 5K on October 24th, because everything says I should! I’m also trying to talk my best friend Catherine into running it with me…let’s cross our fingers she’ll want to and will be ready also – she’s got to brush up on her running, too!
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