Reset progress...

Well, it's been 2 weeks since I "started over," and it's working! I'm down 2 pounds - a considerably larger weight loss than I've had since May. Being vigilant, going into the weekends with a plan, running a little more, and weight lifting seem to be working. Labor day will be a good test - can I stay on track? I'll be heading to the River armed with fruit, carrots, and greek yogurt.

Speaking of the River, we are fortunate that it fared pretty well during the storm. We went down Sunday to assess the damage and start the clean up.

Here's a before shot.

Those are big granite rocks that washed up onto the shore, and a big branch fell on my mom's swing. Lots of overwash, but hey, we were seriously lucky.



And, we got it all cleaned up! (at least the front yards!) Here's an after shot...

There was a lot of raking involved and some serious chainsaw action. We worked really hard for about 6 hours and felt great about our progress. We also heard that whole houses were lost down the way. We got lucky. Really, really, lucky.

Running group continues to go well - I do so love hanging out with my ladies. If only there were job called "professional encourager." I love this stuff! My favorite part is dropping back with the folks that are struggling and getting them to keep up with their intervals - even if we go very slowly. I remember when folks did that for me last year - it made all the difference. That probably was about half of the reason that I kept going.

My next race is a 10k with Alisha. I haven't run more than about 4 miles since the half-marathon, so we're going to start training on the weekends. I imagine we'll get up to about 7 miles. The race is Oct. 1, so we've got some time.

I don't think I'll do a fall half-marathon. Frankly, I don't have the time to devote to training right now. I'm thinking I'll do American Tobacco or Wrightsville Beach in early-spring.

Hope everyone fared well during the hurricane! Let's hope they stay far off the coast the rest of the year...

Sarah