My manditory 30-minute lunch period...

I'm sorry I haven't had much time to blog lately. Had it not been for this "forced" 30-minute lunch at work, I probably wouldn't have been able to blog until after Christmas. Both my bosses (before they left on vacation) said that the "higher ups" would let us go around lunch time today. So I was planning on that. Then the "higher ups" sent this email around:

* Closing Early Today - Word has come down that lunch today should be only 30 minutes and then everyone can leave at 2:00 p.m. to get started on their Christmas holiday. If you opt not to take a 30 minute lunch, you still need to stay until we close. Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!!

And this one came an hour later:

If you are taking a 30-minute lunch, it needs to be 11:30-12:00, 12:00-12:30 or 12:30-1:00 with everyone back no later than 1:00 p.m. Thanks!

How sweet... not only are they letting us go in the middle of the afternoon—2 hours past lunch time—but we have a 30-minute mandatory lunch. Oh, and by the way "Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!!" with 2 whole exclamation marks! Wow.

So here I sit, just finished eating my vending machine lunch, well, what I could find. There's absolutely NOTHING healthy, low-cal or remotely good for you in any of the machines. Would it kill them to put a piece of fresh fruit in there? How about a yogurt? Or even a "reduced fat" anything! I had to resort to a 2-pack of mini White Castle burgers. Yuk! And so this means, I'm going to have to either go running tonight to work it off or eat uber light tonight for dinner to make up for it.

I know, I should be grateful. They could have let us go home a half hour early.

Ok, enough of my groaning!

This past Saturday at weigh in, I gained 3.6 pounds. Yea, that's right... 3.6 lbs!! Why? I didn't track my food and didn't weigh myself all week. I basically winged the whole week. Won't do that again!!

This week, so far, I've done good. I've only had 3 cookies and they were small ones. One each day. I went on a LONG run Sunday morning—10 miles. That's the longest I've ever done in one stint. I did great, too. When I got done, I felt like I could keep going. So next Sunday, I'll try 12 miles.

I've been reading alot about marathon training and they all pretty much say the same thing—do a long run once a week at a very slow pace then 3-4 short runs during the week at a faster pace. The smaller runs will build up my speed and the longer one will train my body to run farther. So that's what I've been doing. I ran 4 fast miles on Monday and 3 fast ones on Tuesday. I'm taking a break today and tomorrow and will run another fast 3-miler on Friday.

Did I tell you they canceled my marathon? It was scheduled for Jan 24th in Clearwater, FL, but due to some sort of permitting issues it had to be canceled. So I found another one that I like MUCH better. It's in Gainesville on Valentine's Day. It's what they call a "Five Points" marathon which is to raise awareness to the five types of blood donation. Very cool. I'm a huge advocate for giving blood so it sounds like a perfect fit. And the route is through the Univ of FL campus, mostly, and by a lake at one point. Looks great. Can't wait!!!

What have you guys been up to? Oh, yea, that's right, Christmas. :]

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

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