Running with a smile on my face

Yesterday I did day 2 of week 2 of my C25K training and I smiled the whole time. I smiled because it felt good to be outside. It felt good to move my legs. I smiled thinking about how much better I already feel since I've started thinking more about healthy choices. I smiled because while it may be tough and at times a bit uncomfortable, I still have legs that are capable of moving me around, not only walking, but jogging. I feel lucky! I know there are people out there that aren't able to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine so I am thankful for my legs and intend to use them as much as possible!

I'd intended on running Saturday, but Koichi suggested going for a walk, so I did that instead. On Sunday I planned to go in the evening, but it started raining and rained through Monday. So finally I got back on track yesterday. Planning to do day 3 tomorrow and hopefully start week 3 on Saturday.

Next week I'm going to Beijing for a few days so I have to try not to let that mess up my training. Even if I don't manage to run while in Beijing, I must get right back to it when I return. I will not quit this time until I can run 5K!! There, I said it. Now you guys have to keep me accountable.

I never posted about this last week, but I started weighing on Fridays and last week I saw a 1.9 kilogram decrease from the previous week! That's almost 4 pounds!! I'm guessing that's mostly from cutting out sodas and drinking a ton of water and green tea. I last drank a soda on April 1 and that evening I decided I wanted to try to go the rest of the month without one. So far so good! Last year Koichi got this awesome scale from his health insurance at work.

You hold the bar out in front of you and it measures your weight, body fat %, amount of fat in your belly area, number of calories you need a day, and your body's age. I am sad to say that the first time I used the scale, my age was 58! That's a difference of 28 years!!! My goal is to bring this down.

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised at the grocery store. I found these:

I don't know if you recognize that cow, but in the States there's a cheese called Laughing Cow and they make spreadable cheese wedges that are so delicious and not too high calorie. I really enjoyed them while home and had missed them since coming back here. These are the same concept only quite a bit smaller and in cubes rather than wedges. However, each cube is only 14 calories! So far I've enjoyed them spread on toast and on toasted tortillas...yum!

Last night Koichi had a work thing so I had dinner alone. I bought some fresh salmon and was going to just have salmon sashimi with rice, but decided to try making "nama-haru-maki" literally raw, spring rolls. They were much easier to make than I imagined and so delicious!

It's rice paper, then your fillings (I used salmon, carrots, cucumber and rice noodles) and you roll it up like a burrito!
Just before I was about to make dinner last night I got a text from Koichi, which is unusual. He usually doesn't have time to text me while at work. Anyway, it simply said "Sakurajima is crazy right now." (translated of course) So I popped out the door to check it out for myself and it was indeed crazy!