Yesterday & A New Normal?

Wow. What a day yesterday turned out to be! I didn't get home until 8pm, after the orthodontist appointment, the dr. check-up, and a quick Wal-Mart run...I was exhausted! I should probably also tell you that none of these things are just down the street or across town for us. They are 45 miles away! See, I TOLD you I lived in a sub-small town! All of our doctors, dentists, the closest hospital, and yes, Wal-Mart, are a 35-40 minute drive. I had to throw the 35 in there for myself; it rarely takes me longer. I have a bit of a lead-foot issue. The slowest I have driven there is when I was setting my cruise on 55 as a gas-saving experiment. I drive a Suburban so I definitely noticed a difference in miles/gallon...but that was short lived. My need for speed got the best of me! So, home at 8pm means I did not cook dinner...we ordered pizza! I tried to make myself feel a little better by ordering the whole-wheat crust (Papa John's), but 4 pieces later (Hey, I was STARVING!) I'm thinking it probaby didn't matter a whole lot! But oh well, I have to tell myself that's why I exercise...to allow myself a little leeway once in a while, and that tomorrow is A NEW DAY!

So yes, today...basically a repeat of yesterday morning. Crazy. Is this going to be my new normal?? Waking up at 545, making coffee, doing small chores, and getting my sweat on before the sun is fully up?? Maybe. Today I did 7 miles of intervals. Since I was doing speed intervals (but not too fast because I'm almost fully recovered from a mild calf-strain), I knocked a little off my time from yesterday and did the 7 miles in 63 minutes. I didn't set out to run that far today, but I got to listening to Michelle Obama on Gayle King on OprahXM and I just kept going. Tomorrow I'm going to have to shake it up some, I think. I did do 100 squats and 50 kickbacks last night as I was watching, again, Mrs. Obama speak at the DNC. What is it about her that motivates me to keep going?? Hmmmmm...I'll have to think about that one.
For breakfast I tried something new, steel cut oats. I bought them a while ago, but had never taken the time to make them. I'm actually kind of excited that I made the four servings and was able to portion out the other three for later...and now they are already ready! But I mixed it with a Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt, blueberries, and one packet of Splenda. I really like the greek yogurt. Wal-Marts in this area just recently started carrying it, and Oikos is the only brand they carry.
We are a little behind the times here where we live...no Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or any of the other wonderful grocery-shopping meccas that I read about in many other blogs. So jealous! We also just got almond-butter. Yeah. A.little.slow.here. But that's not always a bad thing. We have very little crime here. Of course with a population of 850 if someone did commit a crime, whoever did it would be the talk of the coffee shop the next morning. And yes, in a town this small, they would KNOW! I would feel very safe not locking our doors, although we do, and I remember growing up that we didn't always. Not quite Mayberry, but close. Like I said, living in a small town has it's ups and downs. I really don't know anything else, I was born and raised here. Same with my hubby, although he moved away for a brief time during elementary school. We have a beautiful spring-fed river that we hit every weekend with our families and our boat, we go to high school basketball games, and hang out with friends. Now if we really want to have some fun, we head out with a few close friends for a grown-ups weekend to St. Louis to shop, probably see a Cardinals game (our fave), and sometimes go to a club or something. As far as the downside goes, it's pretty much what I've already said-not much mainstream available (unless you're willing to drive-and we are!), the kids may not have the same opportunities that other children in city-schools have (but I feel they are safer), and the gossip mill employs more people than you can imagine! lol But all in all, it's home. And sometimes now matter how badly I want to get away or leave for a little while, it is always good to come back home. It feels good. Comfortable. And yes, sometimes as much as I hate to admit it...it feels like me.