Catching up with friends

Today I caught up with some friends over at Williamstown. It was a fabulous day, with sunny blue skies. When I saw how lovely the day was this morning I thought that a walk would be much more fun than the gym, as well as being a good recovery after yesterday's run. Fortunately for me, Erika is always happy to go for a walk, so we arrived in Williamstown early and went for a walk along the waterfront.

We met Peter and Judy at the restaurant, Pelican's Landing. It was my choice, as I've been there a few times and have never been disappointed with the food or the service. The restaurant lived up to expectations and the company was excellent. It was lovely to catch up with all three of my friends.

I have a whole new attitude to selecting my meal from the menu nowadays. Once upon a time I would have seen a restaurant meal as an excuse for not sticking to my eating plan. Now, I read the menu carefully and work out whether or not the meal is likely to be a good food choice. Sometimes I'm caught out by an unexpected dressing or by a different cooking method, but I pretty much am on top of it now. Today I chose a seafood pilaf. It was delicious as well as being nutritious.

It's quite amusing. I thought that eating out would be more difficult when I was eating well but it's actually become easier. When there are too many options I find it hard to make a decision. Now I can rule out a lot of menu items before I start, such as pizza (I save this for special treats or really high exercise days). I've also become braver when ordering and I'll ask for something to be left off my plate, such as the chips. Today I stretched my boundaries a little by ordering a meal that involved having to manage the shells.

Oh, another thing happened that I thought was amusing. I was told I looked great. Instead of laughing it off I said "Yes". That's a massive change. I've learned to accept compliments and I've realised that I do deserve them.

It was fun telling Peter and Judy that I've become a runner. They were really surprised. I think I would definitely be on most people's "least likely to" lists for such an active form of exercise.

I'm heading back to Canberra in the morning. I'm going to struggle to get to the gym tomorrow unless I go to trivia late, as I have to pick up some clothes which I left in to be altered before the store closes at 6 pm. I guess I'll work out how motivated I'm feeling sometime during the day.

I've squash on Wednesday, personal training and body jam on Thursday, and I'm doing the 10k fun run on Saturday afternoon. I have to organise myself to do my weights training, and I want to get a 5k run in during the week. One of my sisters is planning to visit on the weekend, so I have to take that into consideration too. This forward planning is not as easy as it sounds! Still, it's fun.

Oh, I've decided that I'll run the Mother's Day Classic in Canberra and then fly up to Queensland for a week's holiday with my parents. I had been thinking of running it in Brisbane, but the logistics were sounding a little difficult. I'm looking forward to the holiday. Sun, sand, warm weather .. it sounds terrific.