Another great weekend gone by quickly! Now that I love my job, it's not so bad when Monday comes around anymore!

Saturday started with a little trepidation - I had made up my mind I was going to do 8 miles and I was going to stick to that regardless of the red wine I drank the night before. I was a little nervous about it because I was leaving the comfort of my neighborhood to run the new Atlanta Beltline which will eventually circle the city. Right now they have a 2 mile part of it paved that's absolutely gorgeous! I just couldn't face 8 miles running in circles in my neighborhood. Time to break out of my comfort zone! 

I got there about 8:15am just as it was starting to get a bit crowded but I enjoyed it so much, I just stayed on it instead of running the park like I had planned. One hour and forty minutes later:

 

I earned 4 badges on my Nike + running app. I love breaking my own records! The fact that I can do this is still unbelievable to me. I wonder if that's ever going to go away? I do feel like my running anxiety has calmed down a lot - it was mostly panicky feelings of "I can't do this" and now that I really know I can, I can talk myself out of that pretty quick.

If running 8 miles doesn't make me a badass, a few hours later I put together an Ikea dresser by myself in under 2 hours. Oh, and then we went to see our local soccer team play. Quite the full day!

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day and I treated myself to my absolute favorite brunch spot with my girls. That's a Manmosa I'm drinking. OJ, champagne and mandarin vodka. In case you are wondering, I log that drink at 300 calories which makes it an occasional treat.

The afternoon was spent beginning the next and hugely important chapter of my life. 

My first renovation. 

What started as a simple siding project has turned into structural issues and has now evolved into an 8' x 18' addition to my kitchen and dining room. It's a huge job but I trust my brother-in-law contractor and he is kind enough to do it in stages so we don't have to pay for it all at once. It's going to be long and it's going to be expensive and I've just made up my my mind that I'm going to suck it up and make the most of the mess while I work my butt off to pay for it. It will be worth it in the end. I'm hoping it's not more than a year.

Today I woke up tired after not sleeping much - too much thinking about the tens of thousands of dollars I need to make while the back of my house is being ripped off! The weather was absolutely gorgeous - crisp and cool and almost like fall! I knew it was going to be a great morning for a run. I set out to do a 5k and because my body and weather were all cooperating, I kept going and did 5 miles. My quads and calves are pretty tight but I think I can build up to that being my "regular run" distance. I burn about 500 calories doing that distance (for now anyway!) which is my daily goal. I didn't realize how much harder it would be to burn calories now that I'm in better shape!

Time to get back to work and pay for all this craziness. I'll be back on Friday for the weigh in -  7 MONTH UPDATE with pictures!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!