Round 2

February 5

This is round 2 in a nutshell. On February 5th I was anxious to start my second 30. On day 31 of my first round I rewarded myself with a brownie (moist, decadent, with cream cheese and fudge icing). It was good, maybe even great. But not something that is a regular part of my life anymore. 

After 30 days of my new eating lifestyle I can report that I have not had any flareups of Crohn's. I had one manageable migraine. I have not taken a single injection for my arthritis and I can function well without it. I am not pain free and to that end I am still taking Narco for my sciatica and arthritis, but I am down from 8 or more a day to 6 a day. 

Now for the big news. On the 28th Elyse was running in her first 5K and I wanted to be there to support her. If you live in the Austin area, you will remember that as the day they shut down IH 35. I worried the entire way that I would miss her big moment. As it turned out Alivia and I were the only ones who did make there to cheer her on. I'm not sure you could really call it cheering as our hands were buried deep within out outerwear and our faces were covered with scarves, but we were there. Freezing our butts off. It was almost comical. At one point the runners had to run across a bridge, but it kept freezing up so they had to hold the railing and side-step it. I'm sure no PB was set that day.

We were celebrating Elyse's 30th birthday that evening with a family dinner. When we went to the store I was careful to purchase Whole30 compliant items for me and Erin. Elyse would be celebrating the BIG 30 and was free to eat whatever she wanted. Erin and I were going to try to stick to the plan. 

Best laid plans - I made bottlecaps (floured, fried, jalapeno slices) with creamy jalapeno ranch dip. I confess I ate a couple... dozen. But I was celebrating sort of. I found out that I am going to be a grandmother again. I had mixed feelings about the announcement, because Erin has been trying to get pregnant for almost a year and I knew that this announcement would be hard on her. The news was enough to curb my appetite for the rest of the party. My heart was aching for one daughter and I didn't feel like I had truly expressed to the other how happy I was. 

Although one of our family members was now with child, we made the family decision to run in Ali's school's 5K at the end of March. Hence, Ali's Rainbow Heart team was born. 

So on March 25th we ran or walked or did a walk/run in the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children 5K Run and Ramble (how's that for a mouthful). I have never run for the sake of running. I am a soccer girl raised in a softball family. I have done nothing even remotely athletic in years, but when I saw other runners my age or older passing me, something snapped. Erin and I began running leaving behind the people we had promised to walk with. At some point Erin decided to take a break from running, after all she had now gone public with the fact that she was expecting to give me yet another precious grandchild due just three weeks after Elyse. I crossed the finish line by myself with a few family members there to cheer me on. 

And I was hooked. I couldn't wait to run again, although I would have to wait because I had some serious shin splints and was sure to have aching muscles tomorrow. But now I didn't just want to race, but run for the sake of training to race. I'm even thinking 10K next time and running this one again next year for a medal.

Here's the really important stuff that you probably want to know, at the end of the 2nd round of 30 days I am weighing in at 156! That's another 12 lbs for a total of 28. Way to go me!