it's the most wonderful month of the year!

and no, not just because it's my birthday month...though that fact certainly doesn't hurt.

i pretty much love everything about october - the weather, the colors, the flavors and smells, bonfires and wearing hoodies and pumpkin beer, being able to burrow deep under my comforter as the nights get colder, the return of my favorite running weather, post-season baseball (even IF the phillies aren't making an appearance this year) and on and on and on!

this october is going to be extra special, thanks to a whole slew of amazing plans. first up is gretchen & mj's wedding up in ithaca this weekend, which laurel and i are turning into an epic four-day trip to enjoy all that upstate new york has to offer this time of year, celebrate the hell out of the wedding (i'm officiating!!) and spend my actual birthday (on sunday) visiting some breweries and wineries in the finger lakes region.


dear two goats brewery, i shall see you again soon!
the next weekend is the your next step is the cure 5k, which team stellar is running again this year. after that, laurel and i are going to head baltimore for the night, since the thought of not going during the month of october just seemed wrong.

and then there's the last weekend of october, which shall be spent IN VEGAS in honor of laurel's 30th birthday. when i asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate such a big birthday, we somehow ended up talking about vegas. neither of us have ever been, so we thought...why not! we're spending two nights out there and are going to cram in as much as possible, including a tour of the hoover dam and the beatles love show at the mirage!

just thinking about all that's going to happen this month is making me a little nervous about staying on getting back on track, in terms of beginning to train for my next half marathon and actually losing some of the weight i gained back over the summer. my lowest weight back in may was 180 - an awesome 76 pounds below the weight i started at back in january of 2011. but for the past two weeks, i've been going back and forth between about 193 - 197 pounds. that's a rough weight gain of FIFTEEN POUNDS since may and sure, i can sit here and say, "it's okay...it happens...this is all a journey...it's all because of the amount of traveling i did...i still weigh roughly 60 pounds less than i did before i started..." and blah blah blah. but really, those are all excuses and it's time to get serious again. i still have a goal weight of 170 in mind, but i really just want to get back to where i was (because i felt SO AMAZING at 180) and then if it seems like i have another 10 to lose, i'll go for it.

so, it's time to make some goals to help me NOT give into total gluttony during the next 31 days. here we go!

goal #1: get a proper amount of sleep each night
for me, a "proper amount" of sleep is roughly 7-8 hours, which means i need to be IN BED by 9:00ish and falling asleep by 9:30 - 10:00, depending on whether or not i have an orchestra rehearsal at work the next day. to help me with this goal, i'm going to begin cutting myself off from my laptop at 9:00pm during the week (starting tomorrow night, ha!) and instead of wasting time online or watching dvds in bed, i'm going to read a couple of chapters of whatever book i happen to be reading, since it helps me wind down and feel sleepy.


goal #2: go back to the rock gym!
i haven't been climbing since the week before gretchen and mj moved up to ithaca...which was back in JULY. when i was climbing regularly, i had so much confidence in my body and strength and it did amazing things for my running. plus, the other climbers at the gym are all such awesome, supportive people and i really miss that community. i either need to suck it up and start bouldering more or find myself a new belay partner.


goal #3: track EVERYTHING i eat during the week
during the summer, i basically stopped tracking weight watchers points because i was just so burnt out from a year and a half straight of measuring all my portions, logging everything i ate and trying to figure out all those damn points. so, i let myself stop tracking over the summer to see what happened (and if i could maintain without tracking)...and that didn't end up well at all. i'm clearly not ready to stop tracking, so it's time to get serious again.

during the month of october, i want to get back to tracking all my eats and staying within my daily totals from monday - friday. (during the entire time i've been losing weight, i've never tracked what i ate on the weekends and have just saved all of my weekly points and a good chunk of activity points for them. depending on how things go this month, this is something i might have to change going forward, since the weight is harder to lose now.)


goal #4: actually make an appointment with a podiatrist
so, i still haven't done this. (i know, i know.) but if i want to train for another half marathon just over two months away, i NEED to make this a priority, just to make sure everything's okay.


goal #5: bring variety back into my weekly meals
i am the BIGGEST creature of habit, which can clearly be seen in the fact that i often eat the same thing for breakfast every morning. and for lunch every day. and for my snacks during the work day. oh, and i rotate between maybe 3-4 different meals for my dinners each week. and all of this repetition has led to me making poor choices in the cafeteria at work or ordering takeout for dinner or going out to eat simply because i do not want to eat the same thing again. so, i need to do some researching and mix things up a bit. (if anyone has suggestions healthy recipes that are easy to cook for one, please share them in the comments!)


goal #6: keep weekly splurges to an extreme minimum and allow myself *some* splurges on the weekends, but hold myself accountable for them
the truth is, i'm not ready to stop actively trying to lose weight. but let's face it - i'm going to eat some unhealthy things and drink some alcohol this month. i mean, duh. but i've been so out of control with both of these lately and it's time to stop making excuses for all of the splurges and either cut back on them or start working out harder to actually earn them. i also need to always remember the fact that no amount of splurging on food or drink is worth feeling unhealthy again.


alright october, bring it!