My eye, my butt, and the Fall Color Run

Okay, first things first: I weighed in last night. And the scale politely asked me to step off. I've put on four pounds in the last month or so! 211.8; le sigh. But on the positive side, I got back on My Fitness Pal, logged my weight, tracked my food and exercise for yesterday and I'm as back on track as a girl can claim to be after one day.

I've also made a commitment. I've been listening to a fantastic podcast series by Two Gomers. I found them when I was searching for half marathon support, and I listened to the full series "Two Gomers Run a Half Marathon". It's awesome. Anyway, you can learn more about the Gomers on their blog; it's awesome. They have issued a two-part challenge, and I am IN for both!

First, it's the 10 by '12 challenge - lose 10 pounds before 2012. I need to do this! The second part is achieving a new 5K personal record (PR) in a Thanksgiving race. I'm already registered for a race, so now I'm commited to picking up a little speed and hitting a new PR! Wanna join me? Become part of GomerNation, and sign up for the challenge!

So I've commited to making progress. Awesome. And nothing says progress like a black eye.

Extreme Yoga.

See that bad boy? Yoga. Yep; YOGA. I was attempting my first arm balance in LifePower Vinyasa class, and I face planted. Loudly. But I finished class ... and in the middle of my frozen yogurt treat afterward, the bruise started to appear. Not my finest moment, but I think it's a testament to my quest for fitness that I did it.

That was Friday night, September 30. The following morning I was back at the gym for strength training. Getting up sucked; getting up and seeing the progress of the bruise made it worse. But I kept going! I was a little worried that Sunday's run would be rough - gravity and bouncing might hurt - but I needn't be worried.

Sunday morning came early, but it was the perfect morning for a run. Isabel, Linda and I went to Morton Arboretum for their Fall Color Run. Beautiful. Hilly. I ran it slowly - hills can be bad on the my calf and Achilles - so it took me a full 45 minutes to complete it. But it was really pretty, and totally worth it.

The starting line! Even that was pretty.
Isabel, Me and Linda - little runner girls!

Along the route; so pretty!

Me, post-run ... as a flamingo, apparently.

So, long story short: Three things are happening these days. 1) I've been consistent with my training, and trying to pick up speed, as I work toward the Hot Chocolate 5K ... even with a head injury. 2) I've ramped up my running and still managed to gain weight. Jesus, I am such an overachiever. 3) I've (once again) renewed my commitment to the reasons this blog started in the first place: Progress and accountability. Boom.

Let's move on, ever forward, from here. And seriously, scroll back up and join me on the Gomer challenges!