Today is the day.  Diet: Over.  Running: Starting.  Me: excited.

Since I ran my half marathon, I have lost 18 lbs.  The biggest reason this was crucial is because my hips and back were giving me a lot of pain.  I could cover the pain with ibuprofen, but I didn’t want to be on that stuff long term.  Loosing that weight will take a lot of stress off of my back.

This morning, I weighed in at 178.4.  Exactly 100 lbs since my highest weight July 2011.  I am pumped and can’t wait to run this afternoon.  I’m going to take it easy for a couple of days and only run 3 -4 miles.

Can I say what has helped me more than anything else in running and dieting?  WATER.  I have been drinking almost 100 oz of water a day for 18 months.  I believe that is close to 3 liters.  This has been huge with my running and weight loss.  I am almost always hydrated, except sometimes in the middle of the night.  I can run 13 miles and not need a drink.  It keeps me full and makes me feel so much better than before I used to drink it.

So, going past water, today is the day for my first run in 2 weeks.  Of course the forecast is for storms this afternoon.  The only weather I won’t run in is storms, especially with lightening.  But, maybe I’ll hit is right and get in 25 minutes of running.

I love running.  I can’t wait.  By the way, congratulations to Emma for running her first half marathon and beating her target pace and raising money for her charity.  Very exciting.