day off.

Today I had my first ever snow day from work! Loveeedd it.

The whole mood of my day was kind of like this:



I didn't accomplish much, more like I dreamed of warm climates and starting thinking about running again. I miss it.

Since the view outside my window looked like this (finally plowed clean):


I didn't plan on stepping outside. I did lots of exciting things that didn't involve snow, including:

getting high off of tanning lotion..

dreaming of the beach...
counting the change in my Travel Fund ($11.45. Now accepting donations!)...

and cooking warm country food for cold country people. Spicy African Peanut Stew recipe from Peas and Thank You. It's not quite vegan because I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, and not exactly low fat because I used full fat coconut milk. Oops.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about developing a running plan for the next few months. I am out of shapppeee and while I'm not obese or anything, I just feel gross. There's nothing like a good endorphin rush, and not only is running cheap, it's a relatively quick cardio workout (versus swimming for an hour and driving back and forth to the pool).

The Bluenose Marathon is the weekend of May 21-23, and while I can only dream of completing a full 42 kilometers at this point, there is a 5k, 10k, and half marathon race as well. I also think the half marathon might be a little too ambitious for me at this stage in the game (read: my couch addiction). There are 13.5 weeks until this thing, and I think I could finish a 10k by then.

My strongest deterrent in this whole process is my mind. I'm in a cold weather funk, and I loathe winter.. after Christmas, that is. I;m a huge baby and I shudder every time I have to leave my apartment to go to work, and I drive the 2kms to work because I can't bear to be outside for more than 5 mins when it's below zero. But I don't have a dreadmill and I'm not joining a gym just to run inside when I can run outside for free. I'm still working on this plan, but I'll post it here when I have it completed and hopefully blogging about it will keep me accountable. Heaven's knows I've been reading enough healthy living blogs lately that I know it's possible to do.. even if I live in Canada! Here are a few of my faves:

Healthy Tipping Point

MegaNerd Runs

Running, Eating, & Living in the Real World

I think I like them because they are real young women, about my age, blogging about life after university. There's no book for this part, and it's almost like I'm looking for something to measure up to now that I don't have profs marking me on assignments and exams. On another note, it's crazy to think that because of the internet, I am able to track someone's diet who lives in another country! It's taking creeping to a whole new level..