Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, SUGAR! AAARRRUUUGGGHHH!!!

A friend – acquaintance really, but soon to be friend I’m sure – posted yesterday about his addiction. Very brave. Very honest. Very enlightened. Very frustrated, and maybe a little bit scared. Definitely embarrassed. He is addicted to food.

I feel his pain and embarrassment. I understand his addiction because I am addicted, too.

It’s frustrating, this food problem. Smokers can quit cold turkey. Alcoholics have rehab. Hell – even sex addicts can literally go for the rest of their lives without ever having sex again. Food addicts? Well, we’ve still gotta’ nourish ourselves. We can’t just stop eating.

Too bad, too, because I’m sure that it would be easier than “giving up” sugar.

Sugar is a toxin, a poison – especially in the amounts that I sometimes eat it. Food is a crutch. No matter how strong I resolve to be, I still end up eating my feelings when sad, angry, or stressed. (So, I should just resolve to be happy, mellow, and upbeat regardless of what life throws at me, right?) Food, especially sugary food, brings me satisfaction. It is a very pleasing experience – the melting of chocolate on the tongue, the zing of the tart custard in a lemon meringue pie, the mouth-watering-ness of a simple jam on toast. No amount of lentils in the world can do this. Or quinoa. Or celery (although carrots have a strange sweetness to them). And when everything around me is going to crap, I must admit that I DO want to have something agreeable happening to off-set the crappiness.

I guess I could drink, but really – all of the best cocktails are made from mixers that have sugar or HFCS…

So, anyway, I respond to his post with my own declaration of abstinence from sugar! My rally-the-troops cry! My I’ll-be-there-for-you-bro statement of support! We’re in this together, man! I’ll lean on you, and you lean on me! We can do this!

When I got home (late), I opened up the fridge and pulled out some leftover Chinese food. Heated it up while talking to the boys. Sat down and ate it while talking to Bub. Then, as I was rinsing my dish to load it in the dishwasher, I finally realized that I had just eaten a serving of sweet and sour chicken.

FAIL! Without even realizing what I was doing, I managed to bash my new found goal in the head with a club less than an hour after I made it.

LROY! (Longest Run of Year, so far)

LROY! I should have done this run on Saturday when it was a bit cooler and the route would have been more fun. Instead, I was dehydrated from a dinner of 4 cosmopolitans, some dry Froot Loops and smoked almonds. Yes. I'm brilliant. So, I ran on Sunday, about an hour later than I wanted to, and it was miserable. I was still dehydrated although not as badly. I ran the USU loop with an extra half mile at the track on my way. Then, I ran up to the golf course and back. I was wiped by the time I got home. But, it was my LROY, and my pace wasn't horrible!
Stats: 8.45 miles in 1:34:04 for an 11:08mpm pace

What in the hell have I been doing (besides eating desserts, chocolate, and chips)?

Oh my gosh. That was miserable.
I ran at lunch, and it's suddenly nice and warm outside. So, of course, I was overheating.
I was wearing an OLD pair of shoes because Bub stuck mine in the washer yesterday. I don't know why. These shoes were... UG...
I drank one glass of water yesterday, and that's being generous. Mostly, it was a six-pack of beer.
In all, this run sucked.
HOWEVER, I got on the scale today, and was completely sickened by what I saw. NOT running was NOT an option.
Stats: 3.1 miles in 33:48 for a 10:54mpm pace