Tacoma Narrows?

My friend is training for the Tacoma Narrows Half-Marathon that takes place August 1st. I've run with her a few times and while she is out of town for the next two weeks, I'm running with her running partner. It's pretty exciting. We ran about 6 miles on Thursday and then closer to 7 on Saturday. They are trying to convince me to run the half-marathon with them, but I'm struggling with the concept of paying $75 to run 13.1 miles. I may end up running it with them, but not registering for the race and thus not receiving a t-shirt. That's okay with me. The training workouts have been great. Doing 5 miles tomorrow at 6am. I'm starting to prefer distance running... maybe I've lost my mind, but at least I've found a new hobbie!

Bob's Red Mill

Today I went on my first official trip to Bob's Red Mill. I've been surrounded by things from that place my whole life, but today was my inaugural purchase. I found a coupon for BUY 2 ITEMS, GET THE THIRD FREE. I wasn't sure what I would buy, but when I walked in I saw multiple flours, mixes, and goodies I would love to try out. I settled on a bag of aluminum-free baking powder (I realized yesterday that mine had expired), medium-grit cornmeal, and soy protein powder. With the coupon it worked out great... the baking powder was free, even though it wasn't the cheapest item! Plus I've always wanted to make cornbread from scratch. AND I've been wanting to do protein shakes on the mornings when I run distances, but breakfast shake mixes are not very cheap. This protein powder was cheaper than the cheapest option at the regular grocery store and it gives me more options than just mixing it with milk. SCORE! It was a lot of fun to venture over to Milwaukie and check out Bob's Red Mill. It definitely made me feel even more like an Oregonian. What a great place!

Tomato Food

Nobody told me I have to feed my plants. Today after much concern over the yellowing leaves on my plants, I went to Bi-Mart and bought some lovely Tomato Food (and was very tempted to buy more tomato plants at 25 cents a piece). I quickly fed my poor plants and watched as they guzzled their special potion. I felt a little like a scientist mixing the fertilizer with the exact measurements. I checked out 3 books from the library and have been researching container tomato plants. It's fun! I am very excited to see the fruit growing. Can't wait to eat it!

Feeling organized

Eric and I just got started with keeping our schedules on Google Calendar. I'm really happy that we will each have a better idea of what the other is up to. We try to remember what we have going on and tell each other, but usually we forget or get it mixed up. Now we are organized. Yay!

Working the weight off

So I have switched up my exercise routine again. Now on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I run a mile on the track, sprinting the corners. Tuesdays and Thursdays I just jog about 3 miles. I might increase that as I go. I'm trying to find the right balance between not enough and too much. So far the weight loss has been going well; I'm down 9 pounds since I started really working on it. I have a benchmark weight goal to be 141 by our anniversary (next Wednesday). I've got 2 pounds to go. I'm not sure what a healthy rate of weight loss is, but that seems do-able considering the past week I lost 2 pounds.
I feel like I'm well on my way to my goal weight of 135, which is what I weighed in high school. But really my biggest goal is to have a healthy weight and a fitness level I can feel good about. I know I'm in better shape now than I was in high school, so the actual weight is kind of a poor measure to go by. Oh well. I know there are still things to improve in my fitness and I will keep going until I feel like I'm at a point where I just need to maintain it. That's my plan, anyway.