Should I really drink something that reacts this way to Mentos?

Brooke's comment on my previous post got me wondering what EXACTLY am I drinking?

The ingredients in Diet Coke are listed in order of greatest to least amount:

1. Carbonated Water (negligible cause of dental erosion)
2. Caramel Color (carmelized sugar)
3. Aspartame (CARCINOGENIC TOXIN, turns into formaldehyde once it digests in your body, took over 8 times and a change *ahem, cheaters* in the board of the FDA to finally get approved by the FDA)
4. Phosphoric Acid (It provides a "tangy" taste, and, being a mass-produced chemical, is available cheaply and in large quantities, used to acidify cola)
5. Potassium Benzoate (to protect taste. In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), sodium and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen)
6. Natural Flavors (the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or any other edible portions of a plant, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose primary function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.)
7. Citric Acid (Excessive consumption is capable of eroding the tooth enamel. Close contact to the eyes can cause a slight burning sensation, and may cause loss of sight.)
8. Caffeine (bitter white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a psychoactive stimulant drug and a mild diuretic)

But I still loooooove it. Sonic's Large Diet Coke with vanilla and extra ice (because Sonic has the BEST ice). $2.03 normally, $1.02 during Happy Hours 2-4 PM ~~Pure Bliss~~ Pure, rotten, carcinogenic, acidic, tangy, toxic bliss.

I'm going on 48 hours without one.......... *Sigh*........ no more legal psychoactive stimulants........

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is rotting my digestive system, and I don't care.

(Sing title to tune of "Jimmy Cracked Corn").

I can't help it. Every time my mom buys Cinnamon Toast Crunch for my brother Bradley, I eat it non stop. It's gone within 48 hours. And then my stomach hurts all night long, thanks to the over-abundance of trans fats, genetically modified starches and sugars, and synthetic preservatives. Does any of that sound healthy or appealing or ethically MORAL to you? No wonder it's harder to run after eating CTC for breakfast.

Since I became a pescatarian in March '08, I've:

1. Stopped eating at fast food restaurants (EW GROSS, everyone read Fast Food Nation NOW)

2. Try not to eat at restaurants in general unless it's SUSHI (mmm sushi)

3. Increase my intake of fish, fruits, veggies, whole grains, and herbs.

4. Tried really hard to delete processed foods from my diet (like processed cheese... ugh... I'm not even going to list all the ingredients in THAT)... but Cinnamon Toast Crunch gets me every time.

I'm never going to reach my running potential unless I eliminate all processed foods from my diet. Let me write down a few more things in my Book of Decisions:

1. I promise to eat raw foods for the next month to prepare for my first race.

2. I promise to drink as much water as I can every day (between 60-75 oz).

3. I promise to never miss a day of running because I don't feel like it due to eating yummy processed foods (mmmm cinnamon rolls!!!!!!).

4. I promise to eat sushi once a week and to try and incorporate fish into my diet at least 4 days a week.

5. (I can't believe I'm going to write this) STOP DRINKING DIET COKE... gasp...I'm having a hard time breathing right now...Oh, my head already hurts. But Diet Coke is full of CRAP. Yummy, yummy crap, but crap nonetheless.

Okay, I must now focus all my energy on cleansing my inner body through my detoxifying/fish diet. And when I say diet, I mean lifestyle, not "get slim quick then yo yo back to original weight". Lifestyle, people, lifestyle.

Mary Just Saved My Life!!

I love my co-worker Mary at V.S. because she wanted extra shifts this week and she just took my shift for tonight!! I can run! I can run!

Tracie, I PROMISE

I'm an ambitious, goal-oriented person... but why can't I get out of bed in the mornings anymore? What is my problem? Why can't I get up before 7? I was doing fine all of June, and then July hit with the heat, and now I'm a sluggish sleepy grumpy head every morning. Even after a bowl of Grape Nuts! (mmm-mmm Grape Nuts with milk & sugar, warmed in the microwave... heaven)

I work all day today. I work from 8-5 at my day job and then I have a shift at Victoria's Secret from 5:30-10. You tell me where in there I have time to run 1.75 miles. Go ahead. Tell me.

I AM SO ANNOYED. With myself. Why can't I get up when my alarm clock goes off at 5:30a? Why do I hit snooze and turn the other way? I'm gonna die when I run at Yokuts Park a week from Saturday.

I guess it's a bad habit I've been cultivating for the past month. I need to get out of this sleep-in slut rut I'm currently habitating.

Help? Motivation to get out of bed? What can I do?

I think I make too many allowances for myself. I break promises to myself. Last night, I promised myself I would get out of bed and go running. But when 5:30a came, the alarm clock rang, and I said, Oh Tracie, you're working 13.5 hours today, you really need the sleep instead. And I promptly rolled over and fell right back asleep. I'm REALLY good at rationalizing why I don't need to get up when the alarm clock rings. I think the snooze button is the worst invention ever because it's an enabler to my procrastination.

I seriously need to take seriously the promises I make to myself.

Here's what I'm going to write in my mental Book of Decisions:
I WILL get up with the alarm clock.
I WON'T EVER hit the snooze button anymore.
I WILL get up and run because getting in shape for my first 5k is more important than 20 or 30 more minutes of sleep.

That's what Diet Coke is for, right?

want to be a skinny b?

I'm the kind of person who needs a good slap in the face (figuratively speaking) to get motivated about something.

Want to motivate me to exercise? Tell me I need to lose weight (Thanks, B. And bathroom scale, too).

Want to motivate me to eat better? Tell me about the completely disgusting and immoral process of America's slaughterhouses (Thank you, Fast Food Nation).

Want to motivate me to clean? Tell me I need to lose weight (or something that will invoke a similar anxiety attack... anxiety gives me the energy to clean clean clean or run run run).

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought Skinny B**** (Target impulse buy... aren't they all?). Imagine my surprise and joy when the whole time they're telling me about the disgusting and immoral practices of the food industry in America and to exercise and stop eating CRAP over and over and over.

This book is not for the soft at heart. I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you're some sort of exercise masochist or healthy food fiend.

I guess my obsessions with food and exercise are finally out in the open. Oops.

Running Update: Slept in til 7 again (SO mad!). Running tonight after work on the super-steep hills, 'the bluffs' by my house, then going on the 1.75 mile run. Wahoo.

TTFDOR!!/ Bad, Heather, Bad

~~~Thank Goodness For Days-Of-Rest~~~

I accidentally slept in today. Good thing it's Thursday. Thursdays are a rest day on my 5k training schedule.

I always feel so LAZY on rest days. And even lazier now, since I slept in til 7. ("It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.", Aristotle)

I work tonight from 6 to 10pm at Victoria's Secret . Now THERE's some motivation to work out. I'm going to come home and do some yoga/meditation and then go to bed so I can get UP tomorrow. (I've been working since 8 this morning, and going til 5)

I resolve now to actually get up when my alarm clock goes off at 6 AM. I WILL get up at 6 AM. Tracie, you WILL get up at 6 AM.

Just in case you didn't know, you, too can become an early riser and get up right away when your alarm clock goes off.

I would like to send an un-thank-you to Heather West who sent us home with extra carrot cake from Jessica's bridal shower... that was NOT good for someone who has no will-power when it comes to cakes covered in cream cheese frosting.

I'm Just Not Satisfied

So it's 4:25 pm, approximately 10 hours since I ran this morning... and all I really want to do is put on my running clothes, lace up my new cute pink running shoes, and head out into the Bakersfield heat because I think I can do better than what I ran this morning. I ran 1.75 miles in 14 minutes. I don't feel like I got a work out at all. Yeah, maybe at 6:44am when I finished, I felt like I got a work out. But after sitting at a desk all day, slaving away on my email and blog(s), eating granola and nuts, I feel lazy, like I haven't done anything at all. What is wrong with me??? Maybe, just maybe, I will run again after SYTYCD. But I am doing my super-intense cross training tomorrow... what to do, what to do?

Motivation to Rise Early...

It was SO HARD for me to get up and go running this morning. My alarm started blaring at 6:00 AM and with my eyes closed, I managed to find my phone and hit the snooze button. Automatic reaction. I lay there for approximately 21 more minutes, arguing with myself that I really WOULD go running after watching "So You Think You Can Dance?" at the Kirklins tonight (...Right... the lies we tell ourselves to stay in bed for an extra 20 minutes...). Then I said, Tracie, get your lazy butt out of bed and RUN. So I actually listened to myself, got up, put on my new white and pink Saucony's, and ran 1.75 miles, the first part of my 5k training program, without my iPod, which is an amazing feat in itself.

I haven't been running lately because I can't find my iPod. LAME, Tracie, I know. I need music to run, and since I have misplaced my iPod, I can't muster up the motivation to run! I still do my yoga and strength training, but my running has been sorely lacking. The 1.75 mile run hurt my lungs today. Hopefully with my killer cross training routine I'll be doing twice a week (besides running the other 4 days), my lungs will get used to running for more than a mile. Because if I'm not in amazing shape by the time I get to Utah, my lungs will probably collapse runnning that 5k in Spanish Fork. Maybe I should do cross training 3xs a week. I need to look up how to prepare to run in higher elevations, but I'm pretty sure it's all about running hills and pushing yourself super hard so that your lungs are constantly getting pushed to their limits. Oh, joy.

Well, at least I ran today. We'll just see how this whole "Tracie is a Runner" thing goes...

Tracie = Runner?

I guess I can officially call myself a "runner" because I finally spent a considerable amount of money on really nice running shoes. And not just ONE pair of running shoes... TWO pairs of running shoes.

Yesterday was my start date to train for the Spanish Fork 5k on Sept. 6th. I'm using the program designed by Hal Higdon (thanks Tawnie!!). Mondays are rest days, so technically, today I start running.

I will run the L.A. Marathon on March 1st, no matter what anyone says. I got my little brother to agree to run with me. Hopefully he trains while I'm in Utah. Hopefully I train while I'm in Utah.

Today I only have to run 1.75 miles... now I need to map a route, and thanks to mapmyrun.com, it's super easy.