a new day.

I spent the better part of this morning grumbling about how my vacation was over, about how tired I was, about how not ready I was to return to work. I spent the better day complaining that I wasn't still living in yesterday, enjoying the last few hours with the strangers I've come to love as family in a new place I've come to love as home.

It's true. Yesterday was better because I was on vacation then. I didn't have to worry about bank statements, or the bills that would be waiting for me at home, or the stacks of work left for me at my job. Yesterday was the land of good food and laughs and relaxation. It will always be easy to yearn for yesterday.

But here's reality: today is a new day. It hasn't been decided yet, so it's up to you to make it a good day (or a bad day, if you're that type).

Today was a good day. Just because I said so.

Now, with all my grumbling out of the way, I have a series of posts planned out for the rest of this week to follow a very specific theme that has always puzzled me: weight and vacation.

On the itinerary:
Exercise (Tuesday)
Finding a routine/Sleep (Wednesday)
Alcohol and other indulgences (Thursday)
Food (Friday)
... and maybe a wrap-up over this weekend. We'll play it by ear.

I've made the very conscious decision to put food last for several reasons, mostly because it's the longest and most complicated story to tell. That, and my future mother-in-law pisses me off on this subject and it's best to put as much time between then and this post as possible so that I've had time to cool off from this emotional roller coaster. With that, I'd like to jump into things.

Exercising while on vacation

Before embarking on my 12 day stint in western Pennsylvania, I had absolutely no clue how I was going to manage exercise while on vacation. I packed a bag separate from the rest of my luggage that was solely dedicated to exercise gear.

For those of you who are interested, here's a (mostly) comprehensive list:

• my favorite pair of Vibrams (Bikila LS)
• 4 sports bras
• 3 running shorts
• 4 running tanks
• heart rate monitor and chest strap
• Road ID (THISSSS... I cannot stress enough. It's even more important to travel with this while on vacation and it gave me and my parents the peace of mind knowing that even in a strange state I could be identified)
• iPod with hook ear buds and charging cord
• my favorite water bottle
• 2 headbands
• Body Glide and chapstick
• sweat rags

We stayed with my boyfriend's parents so we knew we would have constant access to their washing machines which helped us curb the amount we packed, otherwise the numbers of each item would be multiplied. The downside of staying with family is that we were without gym access. We contemplated paying for a week membership at a place nearby but it wasn't exactly cost efficient plus we ran the huge risk of paying for something we wouldn't use.

I really lucked out in that my boyfriend's mom goes to their local community center to walk on their indoor track every morning. She invited me to go with her the morning after we arrived and I was thrilled to have a venue in which to exercise. The indoor track was 1/12th of a mile and it makes for a really awful workout to have to do 50 rotations just to get a decent run. After that first date, I was informed that there was an outdoor track, but my future mother-in-law admitted that she had never bothered to pay it much attention since she had zero interest in ever walking it. The next time I went to the community center, I opted for the outdoor track and it was 100% better. Each lap was somewhere between 1/6th and 1/7th of a mile and I had the benefit of running in 70 degree weather with a breeze. It was perfect.

I ran at the community center five times: once on the indoor track, four times outdoors, with each run lasting at least 6 kilometers. There wasn't a pattern to my workouts, it was entirely dependent on the plans we had for each day. Some mornings I had the time to run, and others I did not. Only once did I turn down the opportunity to run and that was the day I was suffering from some hip problems from a horrible event that I will describe now.

My boyfriend's brother is in mad-serious shape. He lost 70 pounds over the course of a few years and now he's lean and ripped and it's impressive. He said to me on several occasions that he'd like to go running with me but he kept warning me that he was super slow and I was probably going to lap him. I was skeptical, but he assured me that he was that slow. One day, we had a break in our afternoon with no plans so we laced up (err... he laced up, I slid my toes in) and prepped for a run. My boyfriend was supposed to take us to their high school track, but at the last minute he flaked leaving us without a venue. I had insisted up until this point on avoiding running the roads around their neighborhood because Pittsburgh is seriously rolling in hills and I knew that my body wasn't ready for that, but we were ready for a run with no place to go. Brother convinced me that running in the neighborhood wouldn't be bad, so out we went.

I don't mind running uphill other than I hate feeling winded, but as a runner that's just something you learn to deal with. Running downhill, on the other hand, is physically intolerable for me because of the strain it puts on my knees. Still, I shoved my fears aside and starting running; downhill at first, rest at a stoplight, then uphill. That first hill was murder. I was feeling like I was about to pass out when Brother kept telling me "this is the worst hill, we're almost done." And I trusted him. I finished the hill, reached a level area and rejoiced that I had survived. And then we came up another hill.

Seriously not joking when I say all of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods look like this.

I ran about 10% of it before I realized I was falling apart. My heart rate spiked, I was seeing spots, and my left hip was killing me. I walked the rest of the way up and said to Brother, "I don't think I can keep going." He said nonsense and assured me it was all flat after that. The next hill we encountered, I threw a hissy fit and began to walk in the other direction. We were only 1.5 miles in and it was way beyond my limit. I'm not normally a quitter, but for my health I could not have continued this. I walked most of the way back to the house, limping and cursing under my breath, furious that I allowed myself to be convinced into running this death trap.

Not cool, Pittsburgh.

I was feeling pretty awful back at the house, but I hoped a shower would cure it. There was not enough hot water in all of Pennsylvania to fix the problems in my left hip, so I kindly borrowed my hosts' rolling pin to work out some of the muscle issues while laying on the floor. It's been over a week since that experience and I am still walking with a limp. The morning after, I woke up crying out of sheer pain and had to decline my morning run. The following days weren't much better but I pushed through the pain to get my miles in. If there was any good in this experience, it's in the affirmation that it is SUPER IMPORTANT to know your limits. I knew even before I went on the run that it would be too much for me, and I ignored my inner voice and paid the price. My biggest fear with this experience was that a bad decision made one afternoon would take me out of the running game for weeks, and that thought was terrifying. Lesson learned, I guess.

The penultimate night of our trip we spent at the Fairmont in downtown Pittsburgh. It's a seriously swanky hotel in the heart of the city (no joke... Hines Ward was there) with a KILLER fitness facility that's free for guests to use. We were there for a wedding and we sprung for a room for the night and I'm glad we did for the fitness center alone. I walked in and two nice ladies greeted me and then took me on a tour. A TOUR. This place was so big you have to have a damn tour guide to navigate you. There were three flavors of fruit water, coffee, fruits and snacks JUST AT THE ENTRANCE. The cardio room was to die for, the weight room made me shit my pants, and the locker room... OMG. There were free lockers, showers with all the amenities, a steam room AND a sauna, scales everywhere, and a prep room for the ladies to do their hair and makeup (hair products, blow dryers and flat irons provided). You could not want for anything in this place because they had it and it was yours for the taking. I felt kind of silly for walking in with my water bottle, head phones, and heart rate monitor because all those things were provided free of cost. FREE. Well, not really free cuz their rooms are expensive as shit, but you get my point. I had three hours to kill before the wedding so I started on the treadmill and watched Legally Blonde. Then onto the elliptical where I watched The Matrix, then weights, then the locker room. I showered, used their razor blades and fancy soaps, walked around the entire locker room wearing their fluffy white bath robes (I was the only person there), I spent time in the sauna, touched up my hair with their flat irons, and enjoyed the atmosphere to its fullest extent.

IT.
WAS.
GLORIOUS.

So now I'm back at home, reflecting on the 25 miles I ran while on vacation, super pleased with myself knowing that I only gained one pound (ONE POUND! 223.0 and rocking it), relieved that my week at the gym won't be spent undoing all the damage I did to myself because I ever-so-wisely kept the damage to a minimum.

I am a mother fucking rock star. Tomorrow we'll discuss routines and sleep.

OH, PS - I bought a new pair of Vibrams