Apparently, I got ready for hibernation too!

So I've been training for and running half-marathons for the last 11 months. I started up in March 2008, ran my first half-marathon at the Quad Cities Marathon in September 28th and the Walt Disney World half-marathon in January 10th. I've since been training to run the St. Louis half-marathon on April 19th. It's been going swell and I've been getting much faster since I had an issue with my IT band that I need to work on improving my form to get rid of. And my form is better when I run faster.

But running history aside, all winter I've been avoiding the scale and eating what I want. I've noticed some increase in the ring of pudge around my middle, but have tried to ignore it. But today, on a whim, I stepped into the upstairs bathroom and jumped onto the scale and was surprised what I told me. Before winter, I weighed about 119 pounds, give or take a pound on any given day. I expected, at most, 121... 122... but what did I get?

124.8!

How could this happen? Yeah, I eat Little Debbie treats and potato chips and sneak candy like nobody's business... oh. That's how. Maybe I shouldn't hoard food away in my room or sneak candy after my dad goes to bed or pig out every time I get a chance. Perhaps I shouldn't fill myself up completely at nearly every meal even though the food is good. I could always spend less time wishing I had food and spend more time thinking about other things. I could try not to compulsively eat whenever I bored or in the kitchen...

This sounds like a good plan.

It's February 11th and I have basically two months and 8 days to lose 5-10 pounds. Not only will this make me feel a lot better about myself, feel more healthy and make it easier to pick flattering clothes every morning, this will help me run a sub-2:00 half-marathon. My first was 2:18:34, my second 2:06:45 and this one I'd like to take those 7 minutes off... if not more. And losing 5 pounds at least would aid in that a lot

So let's see how it goes, shall we?


EDIT: My dad and I are now having a bet. He wants to lose weight too, so we are going to see who can lose 5% of their body weight the fastest. Whoever loses owes the winner the gap of the two percentages, times $5. It's quite fair and our first "weigh in" is this weekend. Nothing like some good old competition to get the ball rolling.