The Ring

Normally I don’t make a post two days in a row, but since we’re making the 90-minute trip home from a hockey game and DH is doing the driving ( 🙂 ), I thought I’d post to update everyone that I did, indeed, get my run in this morning.  It meant getting up at 5:40am (uuuugggghhhh), but I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed at that time and stagger downstairs.  I am not one who can get up and just go run, mostly because my eyes need about 20 minutes to “wake up” before I can put in my contacts.  I use that time to dress and do some stretches, then I head out around 6am.  According to my Garmin, it was 6:03am.  Egads…that’s much too early to be doing anything but sleeping or having a post-clubbing breakfast at Denny’s. :p

Sadly, I was doing neither of those things, but I did manage to run 2 miles.   My splits looked like this:

I have noticed that my runs feel pretty good for the first mile to mile and a half, and then I get to the “OMG why isn’t this over yet?” phase.  Thankfully, by that time, it is almost over, but it sure surprises me how hard it is to finish that last half-mile.  It makes me think I won’t be able to run the whole 3.1 miles on Sunday, but I’m not going to fret too much about it.  No matter how slow I end up going, it will still be faster than my last 5k, lol!  Once again, I felt compelled to get a picture of the sun coming up after my run was over.

Definitely not as good as the last one, but without clouds to add the pinks and oranges, it just lacks excitement.

Now, onto the title of the post.  I had a big NSV (non-scale victory) today that totally came as a surprise.  About 4 years ago, I had received a ring from a friend of mine who sold jewelry at the time.  She had ended up with two and couldn’t return them, so she gave me the extra.  This ring was just gorgeous, a big black oval onyx-like stone in a cool silver setting.  I loved it, but unfortunately, it was a size 6, which my big chubby fingers could not wear.  Okay, my fingers aren’t really that chubby, more like a 7, but there was no way this thing would be comfortable on me.  I tried to wear it once or twice but just couldn’t stand the tightness, so I dropped it in my jewelry box and pretty much wrote it off.

This morning, while getting ready for work, I saw it sitting on the top shelf of my jewelry box.  Instead of ignoring it like I always do, I suddenly remembered a moment a few days earlier when my wedding band had (literally) flown across a hallway at work when I was having an animated conversation with my boss and talking with my hands like I often do.  (You should have seen the look on my boss’ face, lol!).

So, after staring at the black ring for a second this morning, I thought, “Ah, what the hell?”  Well, much to my surprise and delight, it fit!  I was stunned–I had never, ever expected to wear this ring.  I have known for many years that I have wanted to lose “a few pounds,” but I didn’t dream that I would lose enough to make me drop a ring size! I wore it all day, and I can’t deny that I smiled every time I looked down at it on my hand.  🙂  I think the best part, though, was when I came home and was telling my husband about it and DS#2 (age 6) looked at me in confusion. “Mom, how can your fingers get skinny?”  He then proceeded to  “pretend” run in an imitation of me and added, “See?  You aren’t exercising your fingers when you run!”  I love my kids. 😉

Below are a few pictures of the ring and me wearing it.  If only my fingernails were beautiful enough to do this ring justice, lol!

So, my point with this particular post is this…if you are in a weight loss or exercise program, you probably have set goals or accomplishments that you are striving to achieve.  Maybe it’s to fit in a pair of jeans or be able to run or walk a certain distance without difficulty.  But, if you’re at a point where you’re struggling with your program, finding it hard to muster the enthusiasm and/or motivation to keep going, maybe now would be a good time to stop and think about not only the specific goals you have, but also about the peripheral goals.  What are some of the benefits of losing weight or exercise that aren’t as obvious but are just as great?  For me, wearing that ring was a complete added bonus–it was never even on my radar, so to accomplish that one little feat makes me feel just so good about all that I’ve accomplished!  And isn’t that what we all want–to feel good about ourselves?

Okay, enough preaching from me. 😉  We’re almost home from the hockey game and I am ready for a well-deserved good night’s sleep (I hope!), but I did want to add a few more pictures.  (It’s a sickness, I know.)  The first is a shot I took outside the arena after the game…

I was stunned to see a hot air balloon outside! I wish it had been closer, because these are a photographer’s dream…all those colors!

The last one is of DS#1 at the game tonight, during the pre-game warmup.  This is game number 3 in 3 days, and the previous two were a couple of tough losses and late nights.   And yet, before tonight’s game, he was still able to smile and joke with his teammates.  This made my heart smile when I saw it.

And by the way, they won tonight.  So, a good night all the way around. 🙂  Well, except for dinner…our third night in a row of fast food, thanks to all these hockey games.  Subway, Jimmy John’s, and Burger King (my least favorite) were our choices this week. I’m so sick of subs!!  If anyone has any suggestions for good food that you can get on the go, I would love to hear it!

We have a busy weekend planned, so this will be my last post until after my race on Sunday.  Thanks for reading!