schedules, weddings and ticking clocks.

The closer I get to my wedding, the more and more alerts I get from wedding websites, friends, families and registries. OMG, DID YOU KNOW YOUR WEDDING IS LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS AWAY? Yes, yes I did. I'm also aware of how quickly the clock is ticking down the weeks, days, minutes and seconds for me to find time to drop a size, find a videographer, nail down my menu, address my invitations and pick out which gaudy accessory I'd like in my hair. Yes, yes I am aware.

But because thinking about my "to do" list for the wedding gives me serious anxiety, I'd rather talk to you about exercise, eating and my most recent hot mess called the Redlegs 10k. Because I know you'd rather hear about how I found a way to burn barbecue pulled chicken in the crockpot than how I cannot decide which fish to choose for our reception. God, I hate fish.

Let's start with last weekend. I headed down to Cincinnati with some fabulous ladies to run a 10k that ended on the Cincinnati Reds field. I know, it's pretty kickass. After a horrible night-before prep (I'm sorry, is eating peanut butter and crackers NOT proper pre-race protocol?), I managed to feel pretty prepared and after the first mile, I was feeling awesome. And that's pretty much where awesome ended. Humidity, hills, too few water stations and those fabulous Cincinnati bridges made for the worst 10k of my entire life. I finished about 6 minutes later than what I had typically run on my 10k routes at home, but I suppose the point is that I finished. To be honest, it was the first BAD race I've had in a long time. As I crossed the finish line, I couldn't help but feel that races like that are the ones that define where you go next. The me from previous years probably would have found at least 5 reasons why I should take a break from running. I would have seriously considered not running my half marathon this fall or getting up at 5:00 a.m. to pound the pavement for fun.

It feels good to know my mind is past that point. That I've gotten to the point where I know and understand that bad runs happen, and it doesn't define who you are as a runner or as a person. Sometimes, the odds are just against you. Sometimes, your body just says, "Please, for the love of GOD, stop." Sometimes, it just doesn't work out, no matter how well you prepared. But everyone knows that success is not born from people who fail and quit. It's born from crazies who just keep on keeping on. Eventually, I'll strike gold.

And I did strike gold. This past weekend, I ran a 5k that I run every year in support of one of the local animal shelters. I didn't PR, but the thing I love about running the same race year after year is being able to compare times from previous years. Last year, I finished the race in 42:04, with a pace of 13:41. Saturday, I finished in 33:40, which gives me a pace of 10:50 per mile. That's almost NINE minutes shaved off of just 3.1 miles. NINE. DID YOU HEAR ME? NINE. SAY IT AGAIN.

But between this Saturday's race, dinner with a friend, a night out at the Reds game and an evening of wedding planning and catching up with another good friend, I've started this Monday off feeling unprepared and unorganized. Not cool. As ridiculous as it sounds, I usually take a good hour to budget our upcoming paychecks, meal plan and plan my exercise out. It keeps me sane, and it helps center me as I prepare for the next week. Like yoga for crazy people. I did my meal planning, but feel frazzled as I attempt to tackle the week without a concrete plan for exercise and our budget, on top of really starting to knock things off my wedding to do list and prepare for an upcoming trip to the lake.

As we're nearing the wedding, the need for me to be on a good exercise and eating schedule feels more important than ever. I've finally gotten below my plateau, leaving me with about 10 pounds until me "I'd be happy" place and 15 pounds until the goal I set when I first joined Weight Watchers back in 2009. I've had quite a few people ask me what I've done to lose weight, and as one of my fellow Healthy Habits ladies would say, "Diet and exercise. It really does work." But in an attempt to be more specific, I'm going to try and list my exercise and eating plans here. Hopefully it'll help some of you who are interested get an understanding of what I'm doing (and maybe inspire some new recipes!), and it'll help keep me accountable.

Monday

Breakfast: BetterOats Cinnamon Roll (can't get enough of these!)

Lunch: Leftover grilled chicken w/ buffalo sauce, small salad

Dinner: BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches, roasted asparagus

Workout: Turbo Kick, 1 hour

Tuesday

Breakfast: 1 egg, scrambled, 1 piece of bacon, strawberries

Lunch: Leftover pulled chicken, carrots with greek yogurt dip (OMG, yum). 

Dinner: Emily Bites Thai Chicken Skewers with brown rice 

Workout: A.M. run, 6 miles

Wednesday

Breakfast: BetterOats, strawberries

Lunch: Leftover thai chicken skewers with rice

Dinner: Spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs

Workout: Bootcamp and Zumba (2x day whattttttt)

Thursday

Breakfast: 1 egg, scrambled, 1 piece of bacon, fruit

Lunch: Taco salad (from the local market. Amazing.)

Dinner: Emily Bites California Club Quesadillas 

Workout: Run 4 miles

Friday:

Breakfast: BetterOats, fruit

Lunch: leftover quesadillas 

Dinner: on the road (Boo hiss for fast food. Oh hell, who am I kidding, I love Arby's)

Workout: Run 3 miles

Here's to staying accountable - I've got 111 days until my wedding, which means 111 days to KEEP. MY. SHIT. IN. LINE.

Happy Monday, friends!