Confession and Redemption

Yesterday did not quite turn out to be the healthy day that I had envisaged. The plan was to go for a run in the morning but when that alarm went off I just did not get that regular morning surge of excitement and energy. It could have been that I played badminton and squash the night before and was still a bit tired, it could have been a bad night's sleep - who knows! I just did not feel like going for that run.

Once you take exercise out of the equation, you're doomed. As I said previously, it's definitely the endorphins that make you feel good and want to eat well. It was going to take extreme strength of will to avoid the naughties.

I opened the fridge and discovered I was out of milk and uninspired, so I got ready for work and thought I'd head into town early and pick up some breakfast. Schoolboy error. The sweet scent of the bakery hit me on entry to Tescoand lured me over to a mouth-watering array of freshly baked goodies. A maple and pecan croissant in all it's nutty, syrupy glory chose me. I needed a coffee to go with it, obviously, so headed over to Reeves (Salisbury's finest bakery and the best cheese straws around) to pick one up. Oh dear, they'd just prepped the morning bacon and the rolls were fresh out of the oven. Decision made: a mega-breakfast it would be! I can always be healthy at lunch...

I was actually healthy at lunch, a balti-chicken wrap at 12.30 and then a munch on some fruit on my break - ideal. I then headed over to have dinner with my friend Maz, who had made a yummy veggie stir-fry. I brought some grape schloer, which we drank out of wine glasses so we could even pretend we were having wine!

Then it happened. Post-dinner munching over Britain's Got Talent. The breadsticks came out with the houmous, I'd (stupidly) brought over some cheese, there were crackers, doritos, japanese rice cracker snacks.. you get the idea. Maz very sensibly stopped after eating a decent amount of snackage - and it should be noted that I also did finish her stir-fry too. I'm just not the kind of girl that can stop when the food is still there. I am embarrassed to say I polished off the lot.

If that isn't bad enough, here's the crux. We then joked how I could pick up some cookies via the supermarket on the way home. I laughed it off. Full-bellied and very content, I headed home. As I passed through town the idea of cookies kept creeping back into my head, I got past Tesco - phew. Then Sainsbury stood in my way, a wall of dread with only one way through.. and that way was through the bakery section.

One hour, and five double chocolate-chip cookies later and I felt sick. I DESERVED to feel sick and I'm glad I did, because normally I can eat and eat and eat without that sicky feeling (ask my mum, record held for 9 easter eggs with included treats in one day). Slightly disgusted with myself, I headed to bed - which I am fairly sure I heard creak with the pressure as I got in.

So, this morning I woke up and did not feel so good. I went downstairs and made a cuppa, where realised it was actually 5:13 - so I sat in the garden and watched the sun come up. Fuelled by a mixture of feeling fat, guilt and a sense of endless morning time I decided now was the time for a run.

I headed out, warmed-up and settled into a good pace. My legs were fresh as a daisy from my unexpected rest-day and were ticking over nicely. I picked up the pace. About 1 mile into the run I was getting a bad feeling, a feeling that took me back to that ill-fated Army run a few years ago (for anybody that doesn't know the story, let's just say a severe bout of gastro attacked me during a training run and ended up being err.. messy). I decided to keep going, in fact I sped up as I knew there wasn't a lot of time. Soon I realised it wasn't that bad, just a general sicky feeling from eating too much cheese and chocolate - phew!

I did 4 miles (not including a half mile warm up and cool-down) and get this.. I did it FAST! It worked out at around 9:18 minute-mile. A big improvement for me so I am chuffed to bits. That just about cancels out the cookies too..