Howdy!  We have finally hit Thursday and can I just say… man am I ready for Friday!  This week has beaten me down, y’all!

Today I’ll be giving you a quick marathon training update, but first let’s talk about my breakfast this morning & what the past few days have looked like.  Breakfast was a slice of cinnamon raisin ezekial bread + peanut butter, a grapefruit (only half pictured), and a warm cup of coffee with almond milk & cinnamon.  I’m sure plenty of you are freezing your legs off up North, but I must say IT’S COLD IN THE SOUTH!  The past few weeks have been brutal!

I’ve been on the Engine 2 Diet for 3 total days now and today is my fourth.  I think I came in expecting that this diet would make everything right with the world quickly – that was not the case for me.  It seems to have worked for our wonderful Healthy Eating Specialist, Mary Lindsey, though haha because she was a ball full of energy at our morning run yesterday!  My story has not been the same.  I have felt bogged down at work this week, it’s a combination of a lot of things I believe, but I came in Monday feeling like I was in control and by the time I left, I felt like I had zero control over every item on my desk!  I kept thinking I’d catch up Tuesday… I’d catch up Wednesday… well dang it, I better catch up today!  I can’t keep up like this!  There is no telling what I’ve forgotten to do in the past 3 days – I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough when bombs start exploding in the office.  Needless to say, who has two thumbs and is ready for the weekend?  THIS GIRL.

One piece of the very large bad day puzzle was my food yesterday.  Breakfast and Lunch both kind of failed on me.  I made oatmeal, it turned out gross.  I made a potato, I overcooked it in the microwave and it was no good.  On top of my lack of food and my craziness at work (including a break down of tears at my desk), let’s add some fuel to the fire…..

My morning Java Jog run.  It’s supposed to be the highlight of my week.  I get to see 2 sweet friends who are constantly fun & encouraging to be around and I get a free cup of coffee!  Well I had gone to the Chiropractor the day before and he asked me to continue with my normal schedule so we could see what issues I was having, so I joined in on Java Jog after missing a few weeks.  Started out okay, but by the end I was walking and in so much pain.  To top it off, my knee and leg hurt pretty much the rest of the day.  This leads me to my marathon training update.

MARATHON TRAINING UPDATE

It’s about a 99% chance that I will not be doing a marathon in February considering the fact that I can’t manage a 3 mile run without intense pain at the moment.  I have a greater chance of knocking it down to a half marathon if I can get rid of the pain.  With my current diet and the base of running I’ve built, I feel fairly confident that I could manage a half marathon again even with my lack of training.  If I can’t fix my knee in time then I will not be running on Feb. 22nd.  I will continue going to my Chiropractor because heck, even if he can’t fix my running knee problem, your girl over here has some major back, knee, & feet issues.  I have scheduled an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon and hope to get some X-rays to make sure nothing is torn, but I’m leaning towards the bad news based on my run from yesterday.  I’ll give you another update after my Ortho appointment next Friday!

So after the terrible awful day I had… I finally had some things bring my spirits up and end the night on a good note.

1. My passport arrived in the mail!  I’ll be going to Jamaica at the end of February for a trip completely paid for by my office!  I’m taking my cousin with me and it’s going to be one big girls trip with snorkeling, scuba diving, workouts on the beach, laying out by the pool, swimming up to a bar for drinks, butler service, and eating way too much food!

2. I made some Engine 2 Diet approved cookies and they turned out great!  I also ate 5 of them last night while watching Friends and sitting by the fire.  I vowed to do absolutely nothing last night but relax!  It was well deserved and much needed.

3. Nick announced that Fast & Furious 7 will be coming out the day after my birthday (although I read somewhere it was April 3rd…) and that is being mixed into my birthday plans!!!!!!  I am obsessed with these movies and I’m SO THRILLED about it coming out near my birthday!  I can’t wait to see it, although I’ll miss the full on Paul Walker.  The funny part is.. I literally looked up the movie and saw April 3rd.  I was in the midst of texting Nick about it when he text me!  Clearly we’re big fans!

4. Although this didn’t happen last night, it happened yesterday and brightened my day.  Nick’s sister-in-law, Kathryn, asked if I could do lunch with her and baby Cade when they come visit in February.  Of course my answer was a big fat YES!  I just got excited to know that I’ll be seeing them in a few short weeks!

Ok, now I’m off to finish getting ready for work, I’ll be praying for a productive day on my way in with little to no stress or at least the ability to manage the stress well, and I hope each and every one of you have a great day as well!

• What are your workout suggestions that do not involve high impact or running?  I can’t keep waiting on my run to start back! – I have Jamaica to get ready for.
• What do you do when you need to unwind and relax? 

I find that eating & vegging out on the couch make me feel better.  Probably not the right answer haha.  Luckily this time it was with healthy cookies and not processed store bought cookies or chips!