Less softball, more awesome dancing

So we "won" our softball match tonight because the other team were too rubbish to get a team together...how lame is that?! To celebrate our "win" most of the usual team went to the park to enjoy the sunshine but I did not because I am a loser who loves STREET DANCE.

Oh why must my street dance class of joy clash with Softball matches (also of joy)?!

T'was good to go to my first street dance class for a while, even if I am the awkward clumpy giant goat at the back whilst the cool cats at the front look all slick. Actually I lie, I love being the awkward one, it totally annoys those cats who think they're so cool. You want to come to my gym cool cats? Well you gonna have to put up with this awkward giant goat, and you gonna like it, now dance for me my pretties, DANCE!!

Erm ok, yes so dancing is fun. I was going to do a run this evening as well but street dance was pretty hardcore so I'm quite tired.

Probably should have run to help burn all the cake I ate today though....

Oh well, more calories burned than eaten, it's all good people.

Feeling the benefits

There are some days when you just go "oh, that's why I'm doing this!". And today/last night was definitely one of them.

So what are the benefits:

Housemates saying how good you are looking recently and how the running must be paying off.

Old friends texting you after drinks too say how great you looked.

Being able to run in the heat and still feeling strong and like your fitness is really improving.

Getting to run along the Thames and watch the sun set behind Tower Bridge (ok, that's a rather London-centric benefit ;) )

Generally feeling like a strong person who is in control of their life and can achieve their goals, weight loss or otherwise.

Hope that wasn't too cheesy for you :p. Happy Friday goat fans!

Found my personal trainer

It was in my running backpack the whole time...poor old ipod goat-shuffle.

"I love you too Katie," says the shuffle. (Because obviously it can talk and stuff).

In other news I did appallingly today, did awesome until lunch but then went a bit mental on the free chocolates at work and then the free dinner at a work related panel discussion (I mean I do work at a charity - free dinner is rare and precious!).
To make up for this I forced myself to walk home from near oxford circus, but only made it an hour and caved and got the bus (i needed the loo people!!)
So there you have it, I'm a whore for free food. Today's lesson learnt.

Pulling up my bootstraps

So after a week of eating too much, doing no exercise (unless you count softball), and general feeling ill and rubbish, yesterday I decided to get of my bum and do something about it.

The first something involved tidying my room, oh the joys. But I did get the joy of clean sheets afterwards mmmm. So then I felt a bit less shit about living in a pig sty!

Next up I whacked on Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred dvd. I can only describe this as PAIN IN A BOX.

Look at her smug demon face!

But, as we know, with great pain comes great reward and my reward was waddling round like a penguin with painful thighs for two days running really well today!

On Sunday I stretched out my painful thighs (I know you love hearing about my thighs ;) ) with a little walk in Southwark Park. And by a little walk I mean throwing on a sexy bright yellow plastic jacket and pointing some runners the right way round a 5k. I love Southwark Park, it's near my flat and somewhere I frequent when running, so I quite enjoyed just being outside and enjoying the greenery. I had very green views for a couple of hours which was very "rejuvenating" and other cheesy adjectives.

Guarding my post with my life

Green to the max

To finish off my weekend I made an amazing recipe for enchiladas that I got from one of my favourite health blogs. T'was om nom noms, though it did take a lot of soaking and a few hours simmering - definitely a Sunday afternoon dish!

Finally today I did my food run (pret sandwiches to the strand for homeless peeps). And then did a run run, home from Charing Cross, along Southbank. The river which was great, and not-too-touristy on a Monday....so I took on the role of the snap happy tourist instead.

Running all over the world Globe

Bad week

Awful, terrible, rubbish.

I would like to thank my apparent hayfever for this. Yes, everyone in my office tells me you can suddenly get hayfever at 25 so I'm suspecting that's what this incredibly drawn out "cold" is. Eurgh.

Anyway, today:
-Running - probably couch to 5k week 3 as my body is now a flabby mess
-Gym - going to focus on weights and abs exercises
-Swim - after le gym, aim for 50 lengths but see how crowded the pool is
-Sauna - hopefully this will flush my sinuses out a bit

p.s. we won softball this week!

Calories still count at the weekends

They still count at a barbecue with friends and beers.
They still count at a boy's house with pizza and wine.
They still count when you eat Ben and Jerry's as you pity yourself with your horrible cold.
And that is why I am a fail, weekends. And my weight today? 201.2.

Weight loss is only a competition with yourself

but dammit the guy I haven't seen for 6 weeks had definitely lost more weight than I had in that time. Might have to ditch him for making me feel like the podgy one lol.

In other news I have been incredibly lazy since my mega softball + run session last Tuesday because I have a cold. I realise this is a lame excuse but it's made me a) sleep incredibly badly and with really horrible nightmares :( and b) achy, achy, achy. I feel like I'm done a massive weight lifting class! I'm not even that snotty but the achy-ness continues to get worse, booo.

This all makes me a bit worried about falling behind on running training for upcoming (in July) 10ks, will need to get on it like glue when I'm feeling better!

Also my housemate went out and ran 15k yesterday, because she could, and you know she hasn't been running in ages but of course she can run 9 miles anyway! It's the magic of spin classes.

I am great at softball

Yes, I would like to announce that I am awesome at softball and scored two runs (out of two batting turns) and caught two people out on Tuesday.
Sadly this did not help my work team to win our first "London charity softball league" match, but it was really fun anyway. I think it's quite hard to get into team sports after leaving school or uni (maybe just for girls, I know plenty of guys who play rugby or football!) so it's really cool to get involved in this.
And then after the softball I utilised the only non-rainy day we've had all week to run home, couch to 5k week 4 plus an extra 5 mins fyi.
I ran through lovely parks, along the river and passed all the sights (bucky palace, big ben, london eye, tower bridge) because I live in the middle of the best city in the world (obviously ;) )

Apparently blogger doesn't want this picture to be the right way round - I advise held tilting.

Bank holiday weekend

A bank holiday Monday - a day of freedom, a day of joy, a day to do whatever the hell you want.

OR

A day to wait for your Landlord to come and look at the broken fridge-freezer.

To counter this wait (I woke up at 8.30am for some unknown reason) here is a list of...
Things I would like to be doing outside today:

 Walking round London to see what I find

often-times I find lovely street art

Cycling round London (on a Boris bike of course)
Going to the David Shrigley exhibition at the Southbank Centre, which closes soon

I found this Shrigley on the High Line in New York last week

Going for a run, maybe taking in the lovely King's Stairs gardens near my flat - recently saved from being turned into a "super-sewer"

Source

Going to the gym
Choosing a random entry from the Tired of London, Tired of Life blog and doing that

Instead, for now, I will:

Write this post - which has successfully wasted over an hour of my waiting time!
Read the below book, try not to freak out about signing up for the Run to the Beat Half marathon and put some training dates in my diary

Yes I bought a book, because if I can read about half marathons I can totally run a half marathons right?!

Maybe do some sewing with my lovely sewing machine

Broke 200

Yesterday and today the scale did speak to this goat, and it did say 199.2lbs!
Hello one-derland!
Considering weekly weigh-ins from now on, we'll see.

A good start back in London

The scales were not horrible to me this morning, hurrah! The numero was 201.8lbs. Meaning I had not gained the half stone I had suspected in New York. Even with all the...

I did cupcake New York, and Magnolia Bakery

Oh p.s. I never did go for that run in Central Park...I blame my shop-a-holic friends!

p.p.s Returned to a broken fridge, so food choices could be rather expensive this week.

Back from NYC

New York is crazy/fascinating/really fun but god I'm glad to be back in London.
Not only because we don't have a million street vendors pushing food on you on every corner. Seriously, New York smells of food, food, FOOD, how are all New Yorkers not obese?!

Also I walked out of London Bridge station (near my flat) this morning after getting the tube (not subway) from Heathrow and wow we have TINY buildings, I was like woah there is sky up there! I must say the overpoweringly tall buildings were an aspect that freaked me out about New York a bit...even though I live 10 minutes from the Shard.

So yeah, post-New York weigh-in tomorrow is not going to be good. Although hopefully lots of walking, and having a bit of a stomach bug for a few days out there will have helped. Things that will not have helped: Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, pancakes for breakfast, more pancakes, pizza, more pizza, pastrami from Katz's Deli, hot dogs, beer pong.

Pastrami from heaven!