Ventful

Allow me a moment to vent.

Why?  Because it's my blog.  That's why.

So for 18 months now, I've been waking up at the crack of dawn and running.  About 3 times a week.  And during the spring and summer and early fall, it's actually quite pleasant. 

But during the winter, it SUCKS.  It SUCKS to wake up and step outside to sub-zero temperatures while the rest of the family slumbers.  It SUCKS to have to concentrate so hard on an activity that's relatively mindless.  I should be able to let me brain wander, but I have to keep looking for potential obstacles like black ice and cars that don't scrape off their windshields completely before attempting to drive.  It SUCKS to wear three layers of clothes and still come home cold.

But you know what SUCKS the most?  What my biggest frustration is right now?  Because it's not the current state of the house in which I reside.  It's not that my kids fight like cats and dogs.  It's not that I can't get J. to wake up for the bus. 

It's that, despite getting up 3 days a week at 5:30 to run outside in arctic temperatures and doing these stupid DVDs six days a week that I've barely managed to start getting through the entire warm-up without stopping in the three weeks I've been doing them, I STILL gain and lose the same three pounds EVERY WEEK.

THE SAME lousy three pounds.  And that's on top of the SEVEN pounds I gained while training for a freakin' marathon. 

Now, before you all start jumping on me about not needing to lose weight and all that jazz, I realize it already.  I realize that there are people with a weight problem and I am not one of them.  But, I can tell you that 10 pounds ago, I was in the best shape of my life.  And I'd really like to get back to that point.  Or within 2 or 3 pounds of that point.  I won't be picky.

But the snow and the cold and the wind is making it really difficult.  And I just think that if the world was fair, if I'm wearing a headlamp and traction shoes to exercise, then I should be able to eat a stupid brownie.  And an ice cream cone.  And another brownie.  And some chips.  And a few handfuls of M&Ms.  And the last sour patch candy cane.  And maybe another brownie if I'm running the next day.

Just a thought.