Those Shoes...I Must Have Those Shoes!

Oh my! What an emotional day yesterday. Nothing major happened it was just little things that made me want to bawl my eyes out...crazy! I caught myself so many times wanting to grab a snack. Thankfully, I signed up for the Stay Away from Tricks and Treats challenge, but what a tough day to start a new challenge.  I certainly didn't want to mess up on day one!

The day didn't start out well. After carefully packing my lunch, I left it at home.  I had a couple of options at work...but I just wanted what I had packed so I wasn't satisfied with what I had.  I ate it and stuck to my calories, but I was not happy about it.

I had told my husband that I would go walking while he ran this morning - at 5 a.m.  Is it bad that I was a little relieved that it was raining??  The darkness just doesn't inspire me to get out there.

I was off work today for a doctor's appointment.  I have to see my neurologist every 6 months.  She wants to schedule an MRI for December. I might be the only one on the planet that actually likes being in the MRI tube - no open MRIs for me.  I did that once and I am seriously more comfortable in the closed. I like the cocoon feeling and the noise is actually very soothing. Good news is that everything seems to be going fine.

She immediately noticed that we both have lost weight and that made me happy :)  When I checked in I asked the nurse what I weighed at my last appointment in April. Today I was 28.3 pounds less.  I have lost about 30 since May, but I weigh in the morning in my birthday suit. I wasn't sure how a later time and being fully dressed was going to affect my weight.  Most exciting was to see a number on the scale I can't even remember seeing on a doctor's scale.

After my appointment, my husband and I went shoe shopping.  Now that we have become more serious about fitness and plan to continue running/walking/racing we wanted to get some better shoes. The office wasn't far from a Fleet Feet store so we went there. I have never had so much attention given to my feet :)  Usually, I like to hide them in shoes or socks and certainly not let anyone touch them.

The sales clerk that waited on us clearly loved her job and made us feel like we were VIP customers. She explained so many details and didn't pressure us. She worked with us one at a time, examined, measured our feet, watched us walk and run, then made shoe suggestions. Of course, I made my husband go first. When I realized what she was going to do, I spent the rest of the his turn sweating the fact my feet have never had a pedicure.

For the record she made us roll up our pants...it is not a personal fashion statement.  And since we were going to the doctor's office first we didn't think about dressing more appropriately for running. Now we know.

My turn.  Turns out my husband and I both have right feet bigger than our left feet.  My right foot is right between an 8 & 8.5 so that was a little challenging.  The Converse in the foreground are my birthday present - I finally used the gift card from my in-laws the other day and got them.  I am a Chucks girl - this is my third pair.

It is a little awkward having someone watch you walk, but I really tried to get a good stride like I would in a race.  She later referred to a "fast walker like you."  That helped my ego a little :)

One thing the sales clerk did that I really liked was once we narrowed our choices down to a couple of pairs she had us put on one of each to get a direct comparison.  My husband ended up choosing the Saucony shoe on the right.

I was between two shoes and the moment I took my first step with one of each on my feet I knew my choice.  I ended up getting a Brooks pair like this one except mine are black with purple trim.

When we got home I had to run to the grocery store to get supplies for a bridal shower I am throwing Sunday.  By the time I got home it was raining, so I didn't get a chance to take my new shoes for a walk.  My husband did run in his and loved them.

Although I didn't get a walk in today I did got to do a yoga class with a friend at her gym. That was interesting.  I actually really liked it, but clearly I will need serious practice. It also pointed out my total lack of strength and coordination. There we a few things I was happy to notice - my stamina wasn't bad and I was able to do some poses I would not have thought I could. I did wonder if anyone else noticed the "mountain pose" was just you standing there :)

The instructor was an older man. There were 4 other ladies besides me in the class. It was not intimidating - most of us seemed to be beginners.  And nobody had the perfect body doing perfect poses.  I would definitely do it again.  Unfortunately, you can only go to that class as a member of that gym. Since we are already members at gym I probably won't get to go again :(  I checked my gym and there is a class on Monday nights I might check out - if I can drag myself away from Monday Night Football.

Off to double check my challenge goals and head to bed...busy day tomorrow.  I will be a baking fool for the next two days. I will try to stay strong in the center of temptation.  And I will try not to post too many pictures :)