The Churro Variable

Hail my running brothers and sisters! Food=Fuel=Good.  Churros+Me=Bad.  You can also substitute churros for chocolate covered almonds, cookies, apple pie, cheesecake, pizza, or burgers.  I have to come clean.  This weekend I was less than stellar in my appetite control.  There was the churro on Saturday after a late lunch of pepperoni pizza at Costco.  Sunday, I partook of that fluffy chocolaty, rich croissant.  And all through the weekend I dabbled in decadent morsels of dark chocolate almond goodness.  

Hi.  My name is Joel, and I'm a food-a-holic.  Hi Joel.  

You would think that after a year and half of dieting and exercise, it would be easy to control the cravings, but it isn't.  Now, I don't sneak ding dongs into my briefcase and  I don't secretly cram twinkies into my face at midnight, but I must admit that I do enjoy food.  I don't think food makes me feel good or secure, but is there anything better than a good juicy burger?  Okay, maybe a creamy, smooth slice of cheesecake with strawberry topping is close. Now if it just stopped at taking a few bites or eating a small portion, I would be golden.  Like cake.  Fluffy, buttery cake.  However, I tend to eat till my plate is cleared, which is why I try to avoid eating out too often.  If I make my own meals and snacks, I'm able to control the portions, but when I eat out, I always feel compelled to clean my plate.  And when I say clean, I mean clean, as in leave no-crumb-behind-clean or as in if-cleaned-the-house-this-way-my-wife-would-stroke-out-from-happiness-clean.  My latest indulgence has been dessert every night of mixed fruit with a graham cracker crust, drizzled with chocolate syrup and Cool Whip lite. I've tried doubling up on the servings of fruit to make me feel less guilty, but I have to admit to savoring the crust the most.  Hmmm....crust.  Okay, now for the hard numbers.  I ran an easy 6.2 miles today at a pace of 8:01/mile. A good run if not for this little interruption to my route:

You can see the story here.  I was hoping to just find a way around the wreck, out of the way of the police, but the officer blocking my way told me that it would probably turn into a crime scene, so I needed to go around the block.  I guess it's good that I hadn't left for my run 20 minutes earlier!

Final notes:  I received my early registration letter for the 2010 AJC Peachtree Road Race, and I have submitted my registration.  Yay for me!  This is a huge 10K that is popular, strongly supported and well organized.  However, the fact is that I enjoy the race for the opportunity that it gives me and my family to spend some time with our good friends in Atlanta over the holiday.  Finally, I signed up for ROATM's virtual race.  By the time you read this, the deadline will have passed to sign up for the race, but he has a hilarious blog that you should check out.  Later kids!