hungryApparently, the Shadow Unit message board community is embarking upon a fitness challenge, which means that by January 1, I need to be able to run a mile and a half in 13:59 or better. Since I'm currently doing a little better than a 12 minute mile, (and my best recent time for a mile and a half is 18:58) this will require some fairly serious work on my part. *
But that's besides the point. The most amusing thing about this whole deal is that I am such a slowcoach on uphills that the GRD doesn't even break into a trot to keep up with me. Just his herding-dog slink (and he has a most wonderful herding-dog slink, when he wants it) which makes him look like a drifting stormcloud intent on mayhem.
Especially when he's stalking squirrels.
*And, like the climbing and hiking and yoga everything else athletic in my life, it will be easier if I am hauling fewer pounds up those hills. So I'm back on the no-refined-carbs-except-after-exercise program.** Alas! Alackaday! Life is hard.
**Current research seems to indicate that it doesn't matter what you eat, really, for weight gain or weight loss: the important factor is the calories. However, if I avoid the white flour and white rice, my blood sugar stays a lot more stable, and I don't raven nearly as much, or get dizzy-hungry or frail-feeling, so I don't mind the calorie restriction*** very much.
***Calorie restriction, for me, is somewhere in the range of 1800-2200 calories a day: I burn somewhere between 2800-3500, depending. I do seem to do better with dropping weight if I vary my daily caloric intake a lot, including a day every week or so where I eat the moon.)