Goals are amazing things. Last week I accomplished a major goal – I ran my first 5K since my surgery. I had been given the ok to start running on March 25 and I ran 3.1 miles on April 30th in 32 minutes. I was so pleased.

On Wednesday I did something silly. I registered for the Inaugural BAA 10K. What!? The race is being held on June 26th. Thankfully I have a few weeks to train. I really did not think I could come close to running 6.2 miles anytime soon. More on that in a bit.

This week I sort of took it easy in the area of exercise. I ran 2 miles on Sunday, and later I walked 3.2 miles. On Monday I did 40 minutes on the elliptical. Tuesday I walked 1.2 miles after work to the train station and took the day off from any other exercise. On Wednesday I ran two miles and worked out with my trainer for 35 minutes. On Thursday I was running late after work and literally ran 1.2 miles to the train – when I got home I really wanted to run, but I was exhausted – I listened to my body and took it easy and went to bed early. On Friday I woke up feeling rested, at the end of a long day, and my first five day work week I ran 2.5 miles and worked out with my trainer for a half hour outside.

My food for the week was pretty basic except for the two pieces of pizza I had on Tuesday afternoon (office pizza party). Here is a brief recap:

Lunch. Hard boiled egg, Stonyfield yogurt, Adora dark chocolate calcium disk, and Newman’s Own Salad dressing:

Salad all put together – this was soo good:

I enjoyed this whole wheat bagel from ABP on Thursday morning. I needed carbs to recover from my easy run and my much harder training session on Wednesday night…

I had a great Thursday evening snack. Carrots, red peppers, refried beans with a sprinkle of low fat cheese and hot sauce, whole wheat pita chips, and fresh guacomole.

Back to goals. As of this morning I am a week removed from my race. I decided this would be the day to start my 10k training. I woke up at 8:30 and had a slow start to the morning. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and went back up to bed to sip on the coffee and watch the news. At 9 o’clock I fixed a piece of toast with peanut butter and a little bit of raspberry jam. I ran an errand with my mom which took about an hour. When we came back I started getting ready for my run.

Sometimes before a long run I get nervous. But for some reason today I did not. I started my run thinking that I would do four miles. It seemed like an obtainable goal, seeing as I had ran 3.1 miles so easily the weekend before. Somehow by the time I was done with my run I had accomplished 5.1 miles. I was so excited. I felt like I could have kept going – but I decided that 5.1 was enough for the day. I could not remember the last time I had run this far.

Now I only have to add 1.1 miles to my distance, and I will have accomplished a 10K. I feel so much better about the race already. I do not think I would have gotten myself to run 5.1 miles if I did not have my upcoming race as a goal in my head. I have never been a fan of races, but they are great to encourage people to reach their goals.

After accomplishing my 5.1 miles I kept walking for a bit. Then I drank a coconut water to rehydrate and bring some electrolytes back into my body and rehydrated more with water. I stretched and then headed home. After I got home and stretched again, I prepared a protein drink of coffee, protein powder, skim milk, and 1/3 of a scoop of Amazing Meal:

I had a few errands to run this afternoon and as I was skipping around town I ate a Kashi peanut butter granola bar. Now I’m snacking on an apple and a couple of whole wheat pita chips. I might take a nap in a bit 🙂

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all of you mothers out there!