A reluctant return to reality.

I am back from a much needed but way too short mini vacation.  Marc and I left early Friday and took our time heading to his niece's house about 3 hours or so from us.  Because we were early, we diverted and took a short, scenic walk.

On Saturday, as planned, we packed up and took the dogs on a 9+ mile hike.  We went along a paved trail that enabled us to talk and catch up and tell stories while enjoying the hike.  It was cooler then I would have liked, but since they were originally calling for rain, we all agreed that we were very lucky to have gotten some decent temps and intermittent sun.

Here are the boys taking a water break and posing for a pic!

This is the first time in a long time that I felt - well - like a normal person.  I didn't obsess about calories and exercise.  Obviously we were active, but it felt like a fun hike with family, not a directive to BURN CALORIES.

We even went out to dinner last night at Chili's.  I have never been to a Chili's before and I ordered their ribs.  I did substitute the black beans for the fries that the dish normally comes with.  But I substituted not out of obligation but because I thought that I would actually like the beans more then greasy fries.  In fact, I have not eaten fried french fries in about 4 years, so I think I did my stomach a favor.

Along the same lines of feeling "normal" the unthinkable happened this weekend.  I didn't exercise on Sunday.  That is the first time in - it has to be months -  since I didn't do any formal exercise.  Marc and I had both planned to run on Sunday morning, but we woke up to extremely cold temps and a LOT of wind and I said FUCK IT.

I dealt with guilt on Sunday but not that paralyzing panicky guilt.  I'm chalking this up to being part of my April experiment along with the food.  And - oh yeah - HAVING FUN!

Speaking of food?  Way too much.  WAYYYYYY too much.  Some healthy and some not so much.

So today?  I did a 13 mile run this morning.  I had vowed not to weigh myself.  And I did anyway and the scale is predictably up.   I feel refreshed but also a bit confused about where I stand with myself.  I am definitely making a mental transition.  That's part of the experiment too, I guess?