It's Going to be a GREAT Day!

I know it's only about 10am, but so far, today seems like it's going to be an AWESOME day!

"But why?", you may ask. Well, mainly because I got myself up and out of bed at 5:30 this morning and went to the gym for a run. Yup. Even though it was only 24 freezing degrees outside and my car was a monster block of ice, I shivered my way to the gym for a run.

Want to know what makes it better though? My run was pretty epic! I did a 35 minute run and managed to do 2.6 miles! That's 13:27min/mile! That's about 40 seconds faster than most of my usual runs! AND (yes, there's still more!) I managed to run the 30:12 of the 35 minutes! Frigging sweet! My lungs still aren't too happy with me, but I've stopped caring. They're going to have to get on board with the rest of my body and start functioning at high capacity again. Darn slacker organs.

I'm also pretty psyched because I went to Ocean State Job Lot the other evening and scored a fair amount of gluten-free food for real cheap. Seriously- I got two boxes of pasta, 3 boxes of crackers, a loaf of bread and 2 huge things of coconut water for $10. SWEET!! The gluten-free challenge is getting better. I'm not having as many cupcake based dreams cravings as I was before. I think my body is starting to get used to the switch. I am proud of myself because I had lunch with a coworker at an italian restaurant yesterday- I can proudly say that I did not eat any rolls, nor pasta, nor even the croutons in my salad. I also ordered this amazing risotto meal with peppers and onions and scallops in it! YUMMY! I ate half and have the other half for lunch again today.

It feels good to be eating healthier again. Today's menu consists of:

Breakfast-  Oikos greek yogurt with blueberries on the bottom (and a handful of almonds mixed in).
Snack 1- Granny Smith apple with Bee's Knees Peanut Butter
Lunch- Left over risotto meal and a LARGE salad with cut up deli sliced turkey/chicken/ham
Snack 2- Pine nut roasted hummus and baby carrots

Haven't figured out dinner yet, but I'm sure it will be pretty awesome as well.

What are some of your favorite snacks?

A Run...And a Runny Nose

I FINALLY managed to get a short run in last Thursday after work.

Color me excited!!

It felt so good to be on the treadmill and just moving. I could feel stress start to instantly melt away.
If I hadn't been so crunched for time I would have run longer than 20 minutes, but alas, my life stops for nothing lately.

However, my running high was short lived. Boo! The next morning I woke up and I sounded like Barry White (sexy, right?). The cold I had been fighting finally won. My nose was stuffy and running and my chest was all congested. I dosed myself with a ton of Mucinex, Zicam and Emergen-cee (plus tissues and cough drops) and went to work. By the end of the day (right before my show- because the show must go on!) I started to feel a bit better, but definitely not close to 100%. I was able to do the show because, thankfully, my character's voice is in a higher register than my actual speaking voice so no one could tell I was sick. As soon as the show was over, I went home and climbed into bed. I was hoping that if I slept as much as possible before work the next morning, I would get better. NO SUCH LUCK.

I awoke Saturday morning even worse than the day before- Barry White was back for another performance. Needless to say, no work for this sick kid. I spent the entire day in bed, Netflix on the television, medicine on the side table, and going in and out of consciousness. I think I slept about 14 hours total. It was so nice. I woke up about an hour before I had to be at the theatre and felt a tiny bit better.

I really felt the best on Sunday. I was excited because my voice was almost back to normal and I wasn't coughing as much. However, I woke up this morning and I think the cold is trying to beat me again. My coughing started up again last night (but whether that's because I changed the type of Mucinex I was taking or what, I don't know). I wasn't exactly Barry White this morning, more like Elaine Stritch (points if you get that reference, double points if it made you laugh).

I'm hoping to get a lot of rest this week so I will be better by Christmas. I am going to do another 20 minute run on Wednesday, though I don't want to push myself too much if everything is settling in my chest (no bueno for my lungs).

Anyone have any home remedies they use that work pretty well? I'm up for trying anything!