Steph vs The Scale

Last Saturday morning I was scheduled for another long run. (I say “scheduled,” but that’s not entirely true, since I’m not “in training” right now. I just have a goal to do a long run every Saturday until I start my half-marathon training.)

I debated on Friday night whether it would be on the treadmill (in the barn) or actually on the road, and I determined that I would wake up and let the weather make my decision for me.  This is what I found when I rolled out of bed at 8am.

Sixteen degrees—that’s toasty! 😉 But on the other hand, if you look in the middle of the circle, you’ll see those zeroes, which indicates no wind!  Since wind is my sworn mortal enemy ;), and since running in the barn wouldn’t really be that much warmer, I decided to brave the cold and go for a road run.  It might have been cold, but it sure looked beautiful out there.

There was another reason I decided to run on the road, though, a bit of a selfish one.  Sometime ago, before I was even a runner, I saw one of those inspirational photos with a quote that has stuck with me ever since. (I think the first place I ever saw it was on my friend Katie’s blog*, but I’m not positive.)  Last week, I saw it again.

I believe the first time I saw it was last year when I was still doing the “walking” phase of my exercise regimen.  Back then, I walked in snow, ice, wind, you name it.  And let me tell you, I was crazy stylish while doing it.

Yeah, okay, a fashionista I am not. 😛 (Don’t be too hard on me, Kate. 😉 ) I remember thinking when I first saw that “runner girl” picture that I wanted to be cool like that girl.  Even though I wasn’t a runner at the time, seeing that photo secretly made me a little envious of runners who could be that awesome as to run in those conditions. 😉

So, on Saturday morning, in a fit of total self-importance, I begged my ten-year-old to grab my camera and come outside with me to see how closely I could recreate that photo. God love him, the ten-year-old agreed, and here’s what we came up with.

Are they as super awesome as the original picture? No, of course not. 😛 But considering that they were taken by a ten-year-old, and they are of a girl who has been running a total of less than 9 months, I think they’re pretty special. 🙂 I will also add that I think my ten-year-old son is really developing some mad photography skillz!

As for the run itself, it turned out to be pretty awesome!  I’m so glad I decided to run on the road, because it was positively glorious. The sun was shining, making the snow all sparkly, and although it was cold to start, by about a mile in, it felt perfect.  The only real challenge I had was that my nose ran right along with me the whole way. 😉  In fact, I had to stop and walk at one point because it was so bad I needed to have my full concentration on blowing my nose, lol!

I also stopped one other time, within the first mile, because my ankle was hurting.  I’ve been having ankle trouble for the last few weeks, and I have finally told myself that, instead of running through the pain, I will stop and stretch it if it feels more than a little bad.  This has helped me tremendously, and hasn’t hampered my overall running at all!

The roads were icy in spots, but I’m getting better at navigating the “terrain,” and I was surprised and delighted with my final results:

A sub-10 pace! Now, to be totally fair, the first time I stopped (for my ankle), I actually stopped my Garmin, because I wasn’t thinking about speed (since I was on ice).  When I saw that I was actually doing quite well, especially for a snow and ice run, I then determined I would count my “stops” in my time.  Thus, if you compare my “elapsed time” to my overall time, you’ll see a difference of about 40 seconds.

Once you factor in that stop, my overall pace was about 9:56.  Still sub-10, so I’ll take it! 😀

It felt really good to run outside Saturday, and it was truly beautiful and peaceful.  I could’ve taken at least 2 dozen more pictures, but I didn’t have time to go back because I had a hair appointment at 10am.  Next time!

On Monday morning, I ran another four miles on the treadmill, although it had to be done in a 3/1 split because my stomach was hurting. (WTH?) I weighed myself afterwards, with this result:

Up 1.4 from last week. :s

Ah, the scale.  Friend some weeks, foe the next, right?  I’ve been on maintenance since April, and Lifetime at Weight Watchers since mid-June.  I have tracked my food every day for well over 400 days now (and counting!).  I’ve not only made exercise a regular part of my life, but I’ve become a serious runner (who runs in the snow, right?!), and I’m even training for a half-marathon. And on top of all this—I tracked my food and ran 10 miles at Disneyworld! Nothing says, “I’m in control of my health” like a successful Disney vacation, right?! 😛

I had a great week last week…I tracked all my food and ran the most miles I’ve ever run in a week (17).  Most importantly, before I got on that scale on Monday, I felt skinny. We all have those days, right? Some days, you just know that you over-indulged the night before, but some mornings, you wake and think, “Dude, those super-models have nothing on me!”  I was definitely in the latter category when I woke up Monday morning, but after seeing the scale, I was just bummed. 🙁

I know very well that weight fluctuates, and mine especially, due to circumstances beyond my control. My weight never stays the same from one week to the next. Sometimes it’s a half a pound difference, but very often it’s a pound or more. I go up, I go down. That’s my life.

And yet, I still get frustrated with the “ups” and allow way too much of my happiness to be influenced by the “downs.”

I cannot be the only person with this issue.  Does anyone else have any suggestions for how to let go of my dependence on the scale? (Besides getting rid of it, which I have considered but don’t think would benefit me in the long run, lol!)

Thoughts are appreciated! Thanks for reading!!

*I can’t mention Katie today without giving her a huge shout-out! Most of my readers actually came from Katie’s blog (thank you, Katie and readers!), but for those folks (mainly my friends) who are not familiar with her blog and her story, I have to share her amazing accomplishment: this morning, Katie and 11 of her teammates in the Ragnar Relay Florida Keys were on the Today show!!  It was a big segment and it was positively amazing to see.  Take a look on the NBC website to be inspired!