GO LISA! A coworker of mine is running the Baltimore marathon right now – and Antonio and I, Angie and Maddy all spent an hour or more on Linwood Ave to cheer her on. Marathons are crazy, crazy events – the one I did was plenty – but I continue to be impressed with these people who are sweating, grimacing, and exhausted… and how they keep chugging along for some 26 miles.

We saw Lisa around 11:30 or so – looking good and in good spirits. She was about 16 miles in. I also made her a sign, because when I did my marathon I can still remember how awesome it was to see my family cheering me on and holding signs. I certainly hope it gave her an added push.

GO LISA!

I’m pretty proud of myself. Even though I’m a bit sore from the stretching I did yesterday and I saw my chiropractor today, I couldn’t help myself but do some kind of workout tonight. I did a few quick rounds of these “sexy shoulder” exercises and then I did the “shape your abs” workout, and OMG this ab workout is good. It’s SUPER short, but you can really feel it immediately. I love it.

Oh… I washed my car. Yeah… it was gross. I’m going to vacuum it this weekend and wipe it down. It’s pretty bad. Of course, it’s Wednesday, so tonight I also watched Ghost Hunters on Sci Fi. I sorta maybe saw something on the ceiling of my bedroom while I was watching the show, but I’m trying hard to dismiss it – just like I dismissed the woman that I saw standing in my living room at 4 AM a week or so back. Freaking weird. If it was real then the animals would react, right? Right – I’m going to go with that…

I… am old. I picked up a new prescription last week, and the pharmacist handed me my medication in a LARGE BROWN PAPER BAG. I said, “What’s this?” He said, “It’s your prescription.” I said, “In a bag??” Yep. It’s a powder to help my digestive system deal with not having a gallbladder – even though it’s been about 12 years since it was removed – but it’s still supposed to help, so I figured I’d try it. So I had no choice but to pickup my prescription and walk out of the pharmacy with my meds IN A LARGE BROWN BAG. It’s freakish…

On a positive note, after work today I did Jackie Warner’s lower body workout on Exercise TV. It was only twenty minutes, but my thighs hurt. (Sorry, Annie – I needed something hard today… no Pilate’s.) I think I can probably do that a few times a week… and hopefully tone the legs and backside in the process. My Halloween costume is a TIGHT fit, so anything I can do to tone up in four weeks will be helpful.

I suppose the three Swenson’s double cheeseburgers I’ve had in the last two days haven’t helped my cause, huh? Damn.

As of Friday I had lost at least three pounds in my quest to lose at least five before my birthday. Although I didn’t go overboard yesterday at the party, a lot of chips, pretzels and dips were consumed. This morning I resumed my strict breakfast regime (V8, hard boiled eggs and toast), and I’m still weighing in at the same lower weight. I walked with my mom yesterday and jumped on the treadmill this morning and worked up a sweat. Too cool.

At this point I think I’ll be able to lose ten or so, because although it took some time for the first few pounds, I think I’m on a roll now.

One of my girlfriends posted today about her daughter’s 19-month birthday, and since her daughter is teenie-weenie, mentioned that she is in the 3% height range for kids her age. So I got a bit curious and looked up my own height percentile. I am 3%, or at least somewhere less than 5%, so it’s an estimate.

But even more disturbing is that my weight percentile is somewhere around 15%. If I use the BMI calculator for women, it says that I am in “normal” range, (I refuse to provide a BMI percentage here – It’s just embarrassing) but I am concerned.

Shouldn’t these calculations be closer together? I’m thinking I need to either grow taller or exercise to keep this gap in check… but both require so much dang motivation.

Here’s the chart if you are interested.

Last night I spent some time around a tiny little 20-something, with 0% body fat. I’m not one to feel too uncomfortable with my body, but her skinny self made me self-conscious. Love handles… good or bad? I continue to have mixed thoughts on it.

You know, if the temperatures (and humidity) would stay below the 90s, I might just be motivated to jog again, but I’m just not a fan of the swollen fingers I get when I jog in the heat. I’m swimming against the tide here…. how frustrating.

I had one of those run-down days today. After the 3 miler yesterday, I crashed for a few hours during the day which made it difficult to get to sleep last night. So I woke up tired, and it was raining to boot. My least favorite person got to me first thing at work, and I’m not sure I ever recovered from those first few hours.

I’ve had a lot of random thoughts running through my head recently, which has been mentally exhausting. Mostly questions, and some personal analysis. At work today, I was able to get a lot done, but I don’t really feel on top of my game right now. I have a sneaking suspicion that the wearing glasses thing is getting to me again, and it tends to drain my self-confidence. So all-in-all, not one of my best days. I crave a shopping spree to make myself feel better, but I’ll have to settle for having my hair done next Tuesday.

I came home and walked about 3.5 miles – taking a completely different route than usual. I paid homage to my Midwestern upbringing and said hi to every little old lady that I saw sitting on her front stoop. My mom has always been right about making this small effort… it’s obvious to see how much a smile or ‘hello’ means to older people. Their reactions are priceless.

There is a small group of three or four older ladies that sit in front of their houses every evening on my route. Sometimes they are just talking or knitting, and when it’s sprinkling they move their folding chairs under one of the large trees on their block. For the first few weeks, I couldn’t get eye contact with any of them. I didn’t think too much of it, after all, they are busy with each other and I’m walking with my iPod, so I can’t hear them anyway. But within the last few weeks, one of the ladies started nodding to me, and a few days ago she smiled as I walked by. I really can’t tell you what this meant to me. It felt like such an accomplishment, like that scene from ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ where the older gentleman finally tips his hat at Frances. It was that kind of triumph.

So “tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it.” (Movie, anyone? Marie?) At least no mistakes in it yet. Here’s to a better tomorrow.