Five Things "Friday"

Happy weekend!  Clearly I was supposed to to do this post yesterday, but I got way too distracted (by #5 on my list) and before I knew it I was half asleep.  Sorry!  You can have it now, though.  In no particular order, here's what I'm excited about this week:

1) My new FitBit

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 I first heard about this product on Sensual Appeal, and then it was recommended in Chalene Johnson's book, Push.  Chalene also recommends the Body Bugg, but after looking at a few online comparisons of the two products I decided the FitBit would work better for me.  I was really impressed with how fast the FitBit came once I placed my order on the website.  I ordered it on Sunday evening, and it was in my mailbox by the time I came home from work on Thursday.  I started using it yesterday, and so far I really like it.  I chose to hook it on the front of my bra, and that placement seems to really work for me.  I couldn't feel it or see it from the outside at all, and I actually would forget it was there unless I happened to look down my own shirt and catch a glimpse of it.  Once I got home, all the data it had collected over the day was wirelessly transmitted to the dock plugged into my computer, and then I could log into my online account and see my stats for the day.  Because my job is pretty sedentary I only got in about a third of the recommended 10,000 steps per day; also, yesterday was a rest day so I didn't go running.  Many of the reviews I read said that wearing the FitBit inspired the writers to be more active in their days to try to reach the goal number of steps, and I feel like it may start have this effect on me as well.  

2) Unexpectedly awesome runs

Thursdays can sometimes be tough, just because I have both TRX and a marathon training run to do.  Normally I prefer to run before work (if I can; it's not always possible, especially for the longer runs), but this time I had plans to meet up with a friend at about 6pm to do the 3-miler together.  So, what this meant was that I was going to be in TRX from 3:30-4:30, shower and go back to work for like 10 minutes, go home, get back into workout clothes, and immediately go out for the run.  The only deviation from this plan was when, shortly after arriving home, I got a text from my friend saying she had gotten stuck at work and couldn't make the run.

So, I went out by myself.  Almost immediately the muscles in my legs started complaining, and I could feel that my pace wasn't as quick as I had hoped it would be.  Every uphill stretch felt extremely difficult.  I also knew that without the motivation of my friend running with me I wouldn't go as fast as if she had been there.  At first I was a little disappointed, but then I had a conversation with myself.  I reminded myself that during this training process there were going to be off-days and times when I wouldn't do my absolute best, but I shouldn't let these days bother me.  I decided that yes, my pace for this run was going to be slower but that was okay, and I wasn't going to stress about it.  Instead of increasing my pace, the goal of the run just because finishing it without stopping.

Given this pep-talk, you can imagine my surprise when, after getting back home and stretching, I finally looked at the stopwatch on my heart rate monitor and discovered that I had actually completed the run a minute faster than I had when I did the same run three days earlier.  It had taken me about 35 minutes (which I realize in the grand scheme of things isn't that fast, but it's pretty fast for me).  Not only is this a minute faster than Monday, but it's about 5 minutes faster than last week's 3-miler.  After preparing myself and coming to terms with a slower time, seeing a faster one was really exciting and motivating for me :).


3) Our first anniversary!

Kevin and me at the High Line Park in New York City last April.

Tomorrow marks a whole year of dating my wonderful guy :).  I almost can't believe it, it's gone by so fast!  The plan so far is we're going to go to the zoo, because that's where we were on date #5 when he asked me to be his girlfriend, and then we'll go to dinner somewhere fancy :).

4)  My new slow-cooker

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My kitchen woes are a post for another day; for now let's just say that I'm finding my lack of oven difficult.  When we first moved here I really thought not having one would be fine, but I find myself increasingly more sad about it.  I finally bought a slow cooker and cookbook at Target and I'm really excited to start using it, especially when I remembered that apparently you can bake things in one!  I might also start giving Kevin some more dinner-making responsibility, which will be nice :).

5) Once Upon A Time

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I am so beyond obsessed with this TV show.  I want to watch it all the time, and when I'm not watching it I'm thinking about watching it.  In fact, I probably would have gotten this post up last night if I hadn't been too busy watching 4 episodes of Once Upon A Time in a row on Netflix.  I love fairy tales, and I especially love re-tellings of fairy tales, so this show is perfect for me.  For anyone who doesn't know, the premise of the show is that all of the famous story book characters are put under a curse that separates all of them from the things they love.  They are trapped in time, unable to remember who they were, until a hero comes to save them - the catch here is that the hero isn't sure she believes in fairy tales.  It's got mystery and romance and murder and intrigue and awesome costumes and all that good stuff.  I also think that the way they approach each story is really interesting and clever.  The first 22 episodes are up on Nexflix (I think I'm on like #18 or something, I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out!).  Watch it!  It's so good!