Back to training

I need all of your experienced opinions. I'm planning to do a 1/2 marathon sometime in the spring. I'm registered for a 10K in March, which should be fine. I'm currently up to running about 4.5 miles per run, with a little walking sprinkled in. My goal for the 1/2 marathon is May - enough time to train & stay motivated. I originally planned to run the Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon in Portland on 5/20. However, I just discovered that there's a much smaller 1/2 marathon near my house. Maybe less than 5 miles away. It's the weekend of 5/13 - Mother's Day. I love the idea of running my first 1/2 on Mother's Day. Couple of questions for you - 1) would you prefer a large or small 1/2 for your first? 2) It's crazy to think I could run both, when they're a week apart, right? I've already paid for the Portland race. . . 3) Is anyone else thinking of running the Portland R&R?

The return of ugly bathroom pics!

I'm meeting my lovely husband for a lunch date today, so I decided to dress up a bit. I'm wearing heels to work for the first time since my foot injury, so we'll see how that goes. I even curled my hair today! I'm thinking I need a bit more hairspray, because pretty much all the curl is gone now. :-)

Outfit details:

• Purple sweater - Jcrew
• Purple tank - Banana Republic
• Silver necklace - Macy's
• Black pencil skirt - Jcrew
• Black tights - Gap, maybe?
• Black boots - Loft
• Security badge - courtesy of work

Weighty details:
I've been eating well & working out hard since the first of the year. My weight is exactly where it was on 12/31 - 150 pounds. I know good things are happening, since I can see a small difference in my face, and my jeans are fitting better. My ultimate goal is 130 lbs, although I'm thinking 135 might be reasonable as well. Mostly, I want to be healthy, fit & feeling good. I lost weight last year by eating around 1500 calories/day, focusing on 5 servings of fruit & vegetables (each)/day, and working out. I'm also attempting not to have my evening glass of wine, except for on weekends. *tear*

Food:
Here's what I ate yesterday! And, I apologize if this is heinously boring. Please feel free to skip over - the accountability is super helpful for me.

Breakfast - egg on wheat toast with 1/2 a Laughing Cow cheese, mixed fruit, coffee + milk
Snack - cottage cheese
Lunch - 1 piece of homemade chicken pesto pizza, sliced red pepper with yogurt dip, apple
Snack - Protein smoothie
Snack - Luna bar. (I wasn't planing on having this, but I was starving!)
Dinner - 1/2 glass of wine (I know, it was desperate times. The kids were like rabid animals last night, & I just had to have a glass while I made dinner.) + small serving of almond chicken penne.

Total calories for the day = 1560. The unplanned Luna bar threw me over my calorie goal a bit.

Workout:
Yesterday was my non-running day, so I did 50 minutes on the elliptical + arms. I'm focusing on 10 strength training workouts/month, in addition to cardio. I get obsessed with the cardio burn, but my arms suffer (aka batwings) if I don't lift. I know it also helps with the weight loss, so I'm trying hard to get in my strength workouts each week.

Goal for today is running this evening, since I have my lunch date.

What's on your agenda for today? Any fun runs? 1/2 marathon advice?