You love me, You really love me.... but why does food hate me?

The Flying Nun made an impassioned Oscar acceptance speech that's been well parodied since the moment she uttered the words "You love me, you really love me." I'm not going to go so far as to say my usage of it is new or unusual, but it is heartfelt in regards to my thanks to all of you who helped me in my efforts to win this quarters USA Triathlon photo caption poll.

Yesterday morning, with only one day left before the poll closed, I was down by over 50 votes. With the help of readers, some social networking friends, and my mother, we're now up by over 100 votes with only 2 hours left til the poll closes. I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems pretty likely that we're going to wrap this thing up with a win at noon. This means were likely to be taking home the prize pack consisting of a new Rudy Project Zuma helmet and Zyon sunglasses. The Zuma is lighter and offers better design and protection than our current base model Slinger helmets (I do love my Slinger though). And the Zyon glasses offer the top of the line vision protection and 0 distortion lenses that will definitely be an upgrade over Rach's current sunglasses.

Thanks again for your help.

Now on to less happy thoughts for a bit. Yesterday, I started the morning at 313.2, which is good. But after dinner I weighed 317.6! I know multiple daily weigh-ins would probably drive some people nuts, and in already healthy sized person be the sign of a potential eating disorder. But some days, like yesterday, the only way to motivate myself is to have a visual representation that even though I ate the correct number of points for the day, and have been healthy all week with the exception of one midnight snack (that was healthy and well within my extra points), that I still need to get my big butt outside, because some weight (even temporary weight) comes from just the volume of food eaten, and I've got goals I need to hit this week. Stupid laws of physics saying everything has mass and weight.

You might be wondering why I suddenly needed motivation to exercise when I've been doing so well for so long. Living here on the coast, a simple change in the direction of the wind can bring a change of seasons. As beautiful and mild as it was Tuesday, it was equally rainy and cold (lows 50's in June!) yesterday. With several races upcoming, riding in the rain is just out, and the number of bikes at the gym still doesn't support the number of wanting riders. With biking out, and swimming scheduled for today, my only option was to get out and run. And while I won't bike in the rain, running in a light rain is still better than being on an indoor track or treadmill any day.

I didn't go fast, but I went farther, averaging just under 4 MPH for just under 4 miles. It's the first time I've gone farther than a 5k since the beginning of the year. I wasn't trying for speed, and my recovery walks every few minutes were nice and slow. i did push myself a little bit though, including running both bridges on my path. This includes the Harvard (Mass Ave) bridge, which is 364 Smoots (about 1/2 mile) long, according to a unique measurement system implemented for the bridge as a fraternity prank that has now become a tradition.

I admit to finding it very frustrating that eating healthy and avoiding bad food choices can still lead to weight gain if left unchecked by exercise. It's times like these that I realize that I'll likely have to watch my weight for the rest of my life, even after I reach a healthier size. While having to worry about it basically forever doesn't appeal to me, I know that I'm capable of doing it.