Nine

Inches that is...yes, my hard work has paid off nicely.  In the last six weeks, I managed to lose 7.2 pounds and a total of 9" all over!  I also went for some nice hikes in the mountains, tackling some fears (rock-climbing, anyone?!) and pushed my body to the max.  I also ran 4 races (2 10k's that I was pretty pleased with, a marathon that was a "not-so-much", and yesterday's half that felt great), felt good about my food choices (mostly...poutine anyone?!) and overall am feeling pretty darn good about myself these days.

So good in fact that I signed up for another 6 weeks of hell...I mean torture...wait I'll get it right...good, hard work!  Yeah, that's what I want to call it!

The biggest thing I've noticed, with all the training, running and races, is that I recover very quickly.  Yes, yesterday afternoon, I looked like a baby giraffe attempting that first drink at the water hole when I went to sit down, but by the evening I was moving fine.  And today, felt great.  Nary a twinge.  Till boot camp, that is!!!  We climbed the BA hill, to which both legs (quads and calfs in stereo) said OH.HELLS.NO!!  But climb I did, and after finally getting to the top, I made my way across the ridge to the west stairs and back to the group.  Small group today...hoping it picks up.  Not sure where everyone was.  But we all worked out hard, doing sessions of leg raises, overhead leg drops and lunge curls, repeat.  Followed that up with squats, dead lift rows and bicycles, repeat.  Run up the Bitch path (legs are seriously not speaking to me now!), back for push-up rows, supermans, mountain climbers, more push-ups and jumping jacks.  Then we moved back to the Bitch path and did Fartlek drills (whimper).  We sprinted up the hill and walked back down to get our heart rate back down to normal.  Well, the others did...I once again looked like that new-born giraffe, struggling to walk for the first time!!!  Repeated this super fun, good times FOUR times...I just kept repeating nine...nine...nine...that kept me going up and back down again and again.  Class ended with our usual ab work (lost a 4 inches off my waist alone, so bring it on!) and I came straight home. 

Chopped up Brussels sprouts, zucchini, yellow beets, carrots and orange pepper, tossed with evoo and roasted till golden brown.  In my frying pan, I cooked up a lean beef burger from the freezer, then deglazed the pan with beef broth and while the burger rested, I cooked up sliced mushrooms.  Threw some goat cheese and balsamic dressing onto the veggies, threw it all together on my plate and dived in face first!!!  Too hungry (and yummy) for photos!

Sat up way too late (again) but I am heading for bed.  Really, I am.

Later,