I discovered thedailyplate.com this weekend. It's a free daily calorie counter...you can log food, exercise, join challenges and group, chat on forums. It's great. I've never seen such a wide database of foods. Everythng is on there. Anyway, I joined a challenge of dong 60 mile of cardio for the month of November. (Biking, running, walking, elliptical)

I went to the Y and did a combination of treadmill, recumbent bike, and ellptical. I never would have went to the Y without signing up for this challenge. I worked later than normal and I usually think it'll be too crowded at the Y for my taste so I just don't go after 4:30 in the afternoon. Today I got off at 5 and the parkng lot was full but there really wasn't many people in the cardio room. I just have to do this every, EVERY night.

Calories consumed: 1149
Calories burned: 450
Net calories: 699

I love the Y. I don't know why I don't go more often.

I did 1 mile on the treadmill going as fast as I thought I could go. Finished in 14:54. I actually think I could have gone faster but I started a little too conservatively. 20 minutes on the recumbent bike for a total of 3.6 miles. Then, 20 minutes on the elliptical crosstrainer (1.3 miles)

I've had this mild cold for over a week. It was a little worse Friday and better today. Yesterday I was able to eeck out my 2 mile "WALK away the Pounds" dvd. I couldn't breathe very well during it. So, I'm really glad I got such a good workout today.

Planning to go back to the Y tomorrow.

Another note about the race. This is something I wouldn't admit to anyone in "real" life. After the race the friend I was riding with stopped at Skyline chili. I don't like chili. There wasn't much on the menu that would be band friendly. I tried to order a baked potato but they ddn't have any. I should have just drank my hot chocolate and been done with it. I wasn't starveing of anything. But hindsight is 20/20. Instead I ordered cheesy fries. I only ate about 1/4 of the serving. And everything felt fine. After we'd sat for a little bit though....I started burping. I'm pretty good at being discrete about this. I should have made a trip to the bathroom. Nope...Settled in the car for a 45 minute ride home. My throat was getting tighter and tighter. I could feel the mucus buildng up in the back of my thoat. I couldn't hold it any longer. I slimmed into my sock hat. Yuck.......But I felt a whole lot better afterward. The woman sitting in the back seat next to me didn't even know. That was the longest ride home.

I guess I have to write about my “Ghost and Goblins 5K” experience before I forget all the details. I would have written sooner but it’s been a busy week. I took a day and a half off work to spend some time with my niece. Believe me, she demands a lot of attention.

Anyway, the 5K was on October 28th at night and of course it was Halloween themed. Two of the people I went with were dressed up, one supergirl and one Hershey kiss. I just wore black tights with a bright orange pumpkin shirt with a long sleeved tech shirt underneath and gloves. It was one of the coldest nights around 30 degrees. Believe it or not, it was a great night for running. The only time I got cold was waiting for the race to start and coming across the last bridge over the Great Miami River.

If you all know anything about me you know, I didn’t really train for this. I’m the ultimate procrastinator. So, I was going to do a run/walk combination and was hoping to finish in 50:00 some things, around a 17:00 mile. This was a charity run/walk benefiting Dayton’s Children’s Hospital. Looking at last year’s results I knew that there were lots of walkers so no chance of me embarrassing myself.

The start was a bit disorganized. They did have signs posted by pace for people to start but there were even people with strollers in the front. No one was paying any attention. If I was a serious runner I’d be pissed. You have to go into this race for fun only.

It was a chip race so my time didn’t start until I crossed the start mat. Unfortunately, I didn’t wear my watch so I didn’t know how long it took to get to the mat. The first mile, I ran about half of it and the time display said 17:36 so I knew I was probably under my 17 minute mile goal. The first mile was paved roads. They had Halloween displays along the route like graveyards. Mile 2 was a combination of pavement and gravel path. I mainly walked and focused on walking as fast as I could. It worked…..I hit the mile 2 display at 32:50. On mile 3, a chicken passed me. At least a person dressed as a chicken. I couldn’t let that chicken beat me. So, I would run ahead of the chicken walk until the chicken caught up to me then run again. The chicken was even able to pass me while walking. What can I say? The chicken had longer legs than me. I spent the last ½ mile running to keep in front of that chicken. I did it! I finished in 48:06 about a 15:31 mile. Thanks to the chicken and the cold I ran faster than I usually do.

It felt so good to run…..I wish could keep that feeling with me at all times.