Will Run For Ice Cream

Yes these cookies are STILL here.  Day 5.. honestly.. I'm still a little in shock that I'm able to type that.  I've never gone 5 days without having some type of sugary sweet. I guess I should say I don't remember the last time that's happened. I'm sure at some point in my life that happened! Today has been fairly easy. I am still finding myself reaching for things out of habit. I was reaching for a a candy cane which I hardly ever eat. I didn't eat it. I decided if I wanted peppermint I would make some tea. But by the time I got around to making tea, I forgot about it. The 3pm time is still when I feel myself wanting something sweet. But I'm finding that

Well, I didn't know what to expect on the other side of Day 3.. but I have to say... today was fairly easy. Other than some cravings after lunch after I had a greasy burger and fries (Five Guys), I wanted something sweet. But really, I haven't really wanted anything sweet for the most part today. And my orange that I had at breakfast tasted amazing! So far the differences that I'm noticing by Day 4

Day 3 - the day I've never been able to get past because I've always caved. Today, at times, I came close to throwing in the towel. I don't think so much because the cravings were massively intense, but the stress level was very intense today. And because of that I wanted comfort - I wanted chocolate. What I wanted was to get in the car and drive to Sweet Frog. It did cross my mind, but I didn't. I didn't eat the cookies, or the snickers either. And that Little Debbie oatmeal pie is still in the cabinet. What I did do was take some deep breaths and reminded myself of the why. Why am I giving up sugar anyway? What's my own personal reason?

Today started with me getting up and having just enough time to meet a friend for a 7 mile hike. My chest congestion is mainly gone. My legs aren't too happy, but I thought they'd survive. I've been having a lot of join pain and swelling. I can barely open containers. Yes, that bothers me. And I honestly think it's possibly diet related. Time will tell. But my ankles haven't felt the greatest lately. So breakfast was my usual yogurt. Out on the trail I was hungry and had a Thunderbird Real Food bar . After the run, I struggled not to go get a hot chocolate from Sheetz. My mouth watered at the thought of the warm chocolaty goodness!

Well, I admit I still felt bloated and eh from all of the sugar and processed foods on Thanksgiving. Breakfast was easy. I skipped my coffee for green tea. The grocery store was a little more challenging with the donuts smell drifting through the store .. but I did ok and bought some quick already cut up easy to-go snacks where I had one in the car. And then around 10:30am without even thinking about it I started to lift the lid on the chocolate chip cookies.

I've tried for years.. no seriously YEARS to quit sugar ... I've tried moderation. I've tried cold turkey. I've tried supplements. I've tried so many different variations, but nothing worked... nothing. And by the 2nd to 3rd day I would fall off the wagon so to speak which usually resulted in a binge. Which then would result in multiple binges. It is true ( for me from personal experience ) that the more sugar you eat the more your body craves it. And although in the past ( wow back in 2014 ) I have admitted that I am addicted ( My Addiction To Sugar)  I still haven't been able to get that sugar monkey off my back. But I want to. I do. I don't like the idea of something controlling me, because at this point, it does. The rise and fall of the sugar in my body. The sudden feel good release that I get after eating or drinking something sugary to then crash later and feel the need to repeat the process. This is addiction . I won't necessarily totally...

This post was sponsored by  JORD Wood Watches. I received a watch free of charge for the purpose of providing a review. My opinions are completely my own, honest in nature, and based on my own experience.  Wood Wrist Watch I can't believe that the holidays are here. Seriously, I'm usually more on top of things. I'm definitely the 'planner' of the family. So the fact that ahem, the holidays are basically here, I'm feeling the stress of being unprepared. But, I have to say, I think I have it a lot easier than previous generations. It's called online shopping! I'm pretty sure the majority of my holiday shopping will happen online this year. First, it's just hard to get away by myself where I can buy things without others noticing what I'm getting. And Lil Man often has a hard time not telling Daddy what I got him. So online shopping for the win. And if you are looking for a great gift idea, I have an idea....   JORD Wood Watches . I was blo...

I joined Coach Jenny's Holiday Challenge  last week. I didn't quite meet my goal that I had set, but I was ok with that since I ran a race on Sunday ( My First Relay ). This week I'm also struggling to meet my fitness goals. I was at Lil Man's school a couple of days, and lack of motivation due to a sore throat kept me from getting to the pool which left me a couple of miles short. I also missed yoga... that being said, I'm about 5.5 miles ( running and cross-training combined ) short of my goal this week. But it doesn't end until Sunday night - so technically I still might be able to meet it my goal if everyone ( aka Lil Man ) cooperates. But this week, my car was in the shop - and I was REALLY wanting ice cream. What's a girl to do? Well, I ran / walked 4 miles for this beauty. And in case you wondering, yes it was worth it! I will say that the 2 miles there was easy peasy.

Oh where to start.... I had friends who ran the Harrisburg Marathon relay last year, and I had considered it... but passed. This year, I had a friend who was running the full, and had a couple of relay teams running it with her as a tourist run. What's a tourist run? It's a run where you run the course strictly for fun ... sometimes hopping off to take pictures with strangers, statues... in our case a dead squirrel ha ha. So yes, lots of photos were taken this past Sunday.  OH, I should mention she had beer stops along the course. I think there were at least 8 during the 3rd leg? I don't drink (other than an occasional sip from Hubby's craft beer. Although I did have a sip or two of a chocolate martini once. I think I could probably go for that.. but that's another post for another day ) So I passed on the beer.. plus I was basically running on an empty stomach ( I'll get to that in a minute ). We were the Taking Our Time Tourist Team - Because sometimes the...