I think I'm going to call you Dandelion

Monday mornings are always the best time for me to evaluate where I am when it comes to meeting my goals.  It seems like I tend to set a lot of goals for myself, but I really have a lot of challenges when it comes to meeting all of the goals I set for myself.  So when the #Blogtember challenge called for a "life lately" post, requesting that we talk about what's going on in our lives, and how we're doing at meeting our goals.  The fact that this post is falling on a Monday makes me so, so incredibly happy.



Lately...

...My energy levels have been complete and utter poop.  I wake up tired, drink 2/3 of a pot of coffee, try to keep my eyelids from getting it on with each other all day at work, slog through a pathetic workout, then park myself on the couch with the dog and cat for the rest of the night.  Rinse and repeat, every single day.

...I have consistency issues with working out.  It has a lot to do with the flagging energy levels I'm experiencing.  And in theory, I COULD work out in the morning, but then I would have less time for morning blog reading and coffee drinking.  Also, running in the mornings causes me to have tummy trouble sometimes, and I prefer to avoid that at all costs, whenever possible.

...I haven't been great at eating healthfully.  I just want some sugar, dang it!  My weekend eating has been a total mess, and my weekday eating has only been mediocre.  My weight is up a couple of pounds, and I know if I don't put that on lock-down soon, it's going to spell some big, big trouble.  So that's something that probably needs a little bit of extra work... planning and executing a meal plan I can stick to without hating my life, especially on the weekends.

...I have been trying to figure out how to meet my running goals.  Last Tuesday, I did 3.1 miles with Mr. Gunner in about 36 minutes.  I plugged that into a pace calculator, along with my goal half marathon pace, just to see how far off the reality of my current half predictions are from what I would like to see happen.  It isn't pretty.

Right now if I keep a 36:40 5k, my 1/2 marathon will be a 2:49:46.  9 minutes slower than what I am looking to run at the Shiner beer run in November.  However, if I can get my 5k down to a 34:33, I will be on track to meet my half marathon goals come race day.  My next official 5k is on October 12, so I'll be looking to beat a 34:33 that day.  Hopefully I'll have some good news to share on October 14 with everyone!

...I have been loving hanging out with Gunner.  He makes my day all of the time.  He does the most fantastic tail/butt wiggling dance whenever I walk in the door, even if I was gone for just 5 minutes.  We took him to the dog park over the weekend, and it was a blast.  We tried a new dog park, and this one has a cute little pond for the puppies to frolic in.  Gunner pushed a timid dog in, it was pretty funny.  He just wanted all of the other puppies to have as much fun as he was having.

We also learned that this puppy really loves champagne.  I looked down, and he was drinking out of my glass!

I know he's only licking the side here, but trust me... his tongue was inside the glass at one point.  He's a high class dog.

...Have gotten really good at moving stuff around and calling it cleaning our apartment.  The dog rescue we volunteer with required a virtual photo home tour, and I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon meeting that requirement.  I'd been putting it off for a little while, because I knew it would be a lot of work.  It was.  On the bright side, I can finally give you guys a tour of our little slice of reality in the near future.

...I just got finished marathon watching all of the episodes of "Orange is the New Black".  Holy cow is that show intense.  Crazy Eyes is my favorite.  She's just so creepy, yet sincere at the same time.  Plus, home-girl isn't afraid to throw her pie for the one she loves.  Now if only they would stop showing so much naked lady bits, the show would be perfect.

Via

And with that, have an amazing Monday!