Races galore

I'm finally getting back into the running groove, and getting excited about some upcoming races! Here's what I have on the agenda so far. . .

• 3/18 - Shamrock Run with the sister in Portland. 15K.
• 3/25 - Mercer Island 10K. I signed up for this before my lovely sister corralled me into the Shamrock Run, since I'll already be in the neighborhood for a birthday party. :-)
• 5/13 - Kirkland Half Marathon. On Mother's Day! So excited about this.
• 5/20 - Currently registered for the Portland Rock & Roll Half Marathon. Not sure if I can handle running two halves two weekends in a row, so we'll see if I end up doing this one. :-)

Weight & cardio, also, how I'm a dork
In other news, I lost 1.8 lbs in January. I'm actually not completely devastated by this, because I feel so much fitter! I had a huge month of cardio (I track minutes of cardio for a variety of reasons, but the biggest is it's just the best way to ensure that I get to the gym - it's motivating for me to see my progress. I track it in Excel, and I'm a Super Dork, with graphs & all :-). I did 1135 minutes of cardio in January, and made it my goal to crush my previous month's high - May of 2011, where I had 1128 minutes. Just barely, but I'll take it! My goal for 2012 is to complete 10,000 minutes of cardio, so I'm well on track for achieving it.

There are a few small nutritional tweaks that I think will help me keep the weight loss moving along, so I'm working on that. I'm very focused in February, and with two small exceptions - I *will* be having cupcakes on my birthday (after skiing, so hopefully I'll burn off some of the calories) & I'll be indulging on the night that Michael makes me his amazing traditional Persian dinner. Kabobs + rice + more kabobs + some sort of heavenly yogurt sauce. Truly amazing - and, it's the only thing I want for Valentine's Day. :-) Other than that, my goal is to keep my nutrition on track in February, focus on eating fruit & vegetables & lean proteins, & keep the splurges/treats to a minimum.

Outfit of the day
For total transparency, this is yesterday's outfit. I thought today's outfit was okay, but looking at the pictures, it's not so cute. I'll save you. :-)

Details:

• Black wedge/flats - Anne Klein, Macy's
• Jeans - Seven, Dojo
• Purple top - Loft
• Black sweater - Loft
• Necklace - courtesy of Michael
• Dorky smile - as usual

Cookies and such:

My favorite salad bar restaurant at work (we have a giant food court to choose from) offers free cookies on Monday with a salad. Seriously, it's just so wrong. They were still WARM, so of course I had one.

Breakfast - coffee with milk, egg on a english muffin + 1/2 a laughing cow, fruit
Snack - celery with tzatziki dip
Lunch - run through the salad bar, so various salad components plus some roasted sweet potatoes
Snack - chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips
Dinner - leftover pasta with vegetable sauce & 2 small meatballs

Workout/Running:
In exciting news, I ran 4 miles without stopping! The last time I managed that was in the spring before my injury, and since I was starting from scratch at the beginning of January, so excited that I've built up to 4 miles. Finished in just under 45 minutes, which is slow, but good for me. YEAH!!!!!! I'm officially kicking off my training plan next week, so it feels awesome to know I can run 4 miles without stopping.
Questions for you:

• How did you do on your January goals, if you had any?
• Favorite kind of cookie? My favorite is easily a frosted sugar cookie. Boom!
• Are you registered for any upcoming races? :-)